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WEBSTER,  NY.  14S80 

(716)872-4503 


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CIHM/ICMH 

Microfiche 

Series. 


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Collection  de 
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Canadian  Institute  for  Historical  Microreproductions  /  institut  Canadian  de  microroproductions  historiques 


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Technical  and  Bibliographic  Notat/Notat  tachniquas  at  bibliographiquaa 


Tha  Instituta  has  attamptad  to  obtain  tha  bast 
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which  may  altar  any  of  tha  imagaa  in  tha 
reproduction ,  or  which  may  significantly  change 
the  usual  method  of  filming,  are  checked  below. 


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Couverture  de  couleur 


I      I    Covers  damaged/ 


Couverture  endommag^a 


□   Covers  restored  and/or  laminated/ 
Couverture  restaurAe  at/ou  pelliculAe 


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Le  titre  de  couverture  manque 


I.   I- 


I      I    Coloured  maps/ 


Cartes  g^ographiquas  en  couleur 


Coloured  ink  (i.e.  other  than  blue  or  black)/ 
Encre  de  couleur  (i.e.  autre  que  bleua  ou  noire) 


□   Coloured  plates  and/or  illustrations/ 
P!i 


Pianchas  at/ou  illustrations  9n  couleur 

Bound  with  other  material/  ^ 

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Blank  leaves  added  during  restoration  may 
appear  within  the  text.  Whenever  possible,  these 
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II  se  peut  que  certaines  pages  blanches  ajouttes 
lors  d'une  restauration  apparaissent  dans  le  texte, 
mais,  lorsque  cela  itait  possible,  ces  pages  n'ont 
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point  de  vue  bibliographiqua.  qui  peuvent  modifier 
une  image  reproduite.  ou  qui  peuvent  exiger  une 
modification  dans  la  mAthode  normale  de  filmage 
sont  IndiquAs  ci-dessous. 


I     I   Coloured  pages/ 


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Pages  endommagias 

Pages  restored  and/or  laminated/ 
Pages  restauriv^  at/ou  pelliculAes 

Pages  discoloured,  stained  or  foxed/ 
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lnclud(>4(  supplementary  materii 
Comprend  du  material  supplimantaire 


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Only  edition  available/ 
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This  item  is  filmed  at  tha  reduction  ratio  checked  below/ 

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The  copy  filmad  hare  has  baan  raproduoad  thanks 
to  tha  ganarosity  of: 

Library  of  tha  Public 
Archives  of  Canada 

Tha  images  appearing  hare  are  tha  best  quaiity 
possible  considering  the  condition  and  legibility 
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Original  copies  In  printed  paper  covers  are  filmed 
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sion,  or  the  back  cover  when  appropriate.  All 
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first  page  with  a  printed  or  iliuatratad  impres- 
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The  last  recorded  frame  on  each  microfiche 
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Maps,  plates,  charts,  etc.,  may  be  filmed  at 
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L'exemplaira  filmA  f ut  reproduit  grice  k  la 
ginirositA  da: 

La  bibiiothAqua  das  Archives 
publiques  du  Canada 

Las  imagaa  suivantea  ont  M*  reproduites  avac  le 
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da  la  netteti  de  l'exemplaira  f  iim*,  et  en 
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filmage. 

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C|e  American  Ctltirnpfj  dEonipanm 


^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^    v       REMARKS 

OF  U.  W.  RUSSELL,  ONE  OF  TIIK  EXECUTIVE  COMMITTEE  OF 
THE  AMERICAN  TELEGRAPn  COMPANr, 


k 

m 


IN    REPLY 

TO  THE  STATEMENT  OF  Messrs.  AURAM  S.  IIIOWITT,  CYRUS  W. 

FIELD,  HENRY  J.  RAYMOND,  AND  OTIIKIJS,  ^lADi:  AT  THE 

MEETING   OF  STOCKHOLDERS,   ON  JUNE   29th   ISOO. 


-4««>»>- 


NKW    YORK: 

MM.  C,  BliVANT  *  CO.,   'KlM'KIl;*,  41  NASSAU  STJtK^T,  (;OU>fi:iJ  OF  J^lUE  UV, 

I860, 


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H  77D  7 


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1/^ 


Nkw  York,  14th  July,  1860. 

The  statements  made  and  the  reasoning  presented  by  Messrs. 
Abrain  S.  Hewitt,  Cyrus  W.  Field,  niul  Wilson  G.  Hunt  at 
the  meeting  of  the  stocklioldcrs  of  the  company  on  the  2?th 
and  29th  Juno  lust,  sliould  not  go  unanswered.  The  rndcr- 
eigncd,  as  one  of  the  Executive  Conunittec,  would  have  replied 
to  those  statements  liad  not  the  meeting  come  to  un  abrupt 
termination.  He  has,  therefore,  deemed  it  advisable  to  write 
out  and  publish  the  following  remarks  which  ko  intended  to 
offer  on  that  occasion. 

R.  \V.   liuSSELL. 


Mr.  PRtsiuENT :  It  is  my  intention  to  support  the  resolution 
offered  by  Mr.  Cambridge  Livingston,  that  it  is  inexpedient 
for  tlic  stockholders  lierc  assembled  to  take  any  action  relative 
to  the  business  for  wliicli  this  meeting  has  been  called,  it  legiti- 
mately belonging  to  the  Board  of  Directors. 

And,  sir,  I  propose  to  state  fully  my  reasons  for  this  course 
and  to  reply  somewhat  in  detail  to  the  various  statements  which 
have  been  made  by  the  speakers  on  the  otiier  side. 

As  one  of  the  Executive  Committee  who  have  been  assailed 
in  the  most  violent  manner,  I  desire  the  opportunity  of  repel- 
ling the  charges  brought  a^'aiiist  them  ;  and,  sir,  I  will  prove 
to  this  meeting  before  I  sit  down  that  all  those  charges  are 
unfounded,  and  that  the  statements  made  in  the  address  of  the 
Executive  Committee  to  the  stockholders  are  correct  in  every 
essential  particular.  Moreover,  sir,  I  will  prove  that  no  reliance 
whatever  can  be  placed  on  the  statements  of  the  gentleman 
who  has  charged  the  Executive  Committee  with  falsehood. 


Mr.  Cyrus  ^V.  Field  has  grossly  insulted  you,  Sir,  by  twice 
asserting  before  this  meeting,  his  firm  belief  that  you  had  signed 


the  address  of  the  Executive  Comniittco  to  the  Stockholders 
without  rending  it.    And  yet,  in  the  same  breatli,  ho  dcclaroa 
that  ho  has  a  great  respect  for  you. 
AddrtM  of      Tliat  address,  Sir,  contains  a  full  explanation  of  the  position 
MTt  fominu- and  prospects  of  the  Company,  and  its  policy,  and  information 
in  detail  respecting  the  topics  discussed  here  to-day.    If  you 
^J^«^^«'-  had  put  forth  that  statement  over  your  signature,  without  read- 
ing it,  as  Mr.  C.  "W.  Field  supposes  you  to  have  done,  you 
would  not  be  entitled  to  his  respect,  nor  would  you.  Sir,  be  fit 
to  fill  the  office  of  President  of  the  Company. 

I  may  state  to  tbis  meeting,  that  the  address  in  question  was 
prepared  with  great  care  by  all  the  members  of  the  Executive 
Committee — that  the  portion  prepared  by  Mr.  Alden  and  my- 
*  self  was  sent  to  the  President  in  Baltimore,  and  that  the  print- 
ing of  the  document  was  deferred  until  ho  could  come  to  New 
York,  and  confer  with  us  upon  the  additions  and  alterations 
whicb  he  proposed  to  make.  The  address  is  printed  as  finally 
settled,  by  the  whole  of  the  Executive  Coramitteo  conferring 
peraonally  together.  And  I  undertake  to  say,  that  no  material 
error  can  be  pointed  out  in  that  document,  either  in  the  state- 
ment of  facts,  or  in  its  reasoning  thereon. 


\i  }i 


,*i'  1, 


_  I  was  in  favor  of  Mr.  Cambriclgo  Livingston's  motion  to  ad- 

Th«  Motion  .  ,  -.    ,  ,     ^  °,  ,  .°  /.   ,r  TT 

le  i<«ouro.journ,  bccause  1  knew  what  was  the  object  of  Mess  s.  Hunt, 
Field  and  Hewitt  iri  desiring  to  give  publicity  to  the  affairs  of 
the  Company. 

Several  reporters  we.  present,  and  I  knew  that  the  proceed- 
ings would  not  bo  reporte  1  fully  and  accurately,  and  moreover, 
that  the  aflairs  of  a  Company  like  this,  claiming  monopolies 
under  ])atent8,  ought  not  to  be  spread  out  in  the  newspapers. 
Tl»e  meeting  ought  not  to  have  been  caUed,  and  but  for  an  over- 
sight in  the  by-laws,  it  could  not  have  been  called  ;  for  it  was 
impossible  to  get  the  owners  of  one-third  of  the  stock  to  sign  a 
requisition  for  the  meeting. 

The  Appeal      Tlii^,  sir,  is  au  appeal  prosecuted  by  three  of  the  directors 
Board,    agaiust  the  decision  of  the  other  nine,  on  the  policy  to  be  pur- 
sued by  this  company  in  respect  to  that  part  of  the  newspaper 
press  business  which  is  controlled  by  Mr.  D.  II.  Crfiig. 


.1, 

i;; 


In  tlic  first  i^laco,  sir,  I  deny  tli.it  any  appeal  lies  from  tlio  Who  »r«  ih« 
I3oard  to  the  stockholdeii. 

Who,  sir,  arc  tlio  appellants  ;  and  who  iho  respondents  on  this 
occasion  ?  The  real  appellants  are  ^Ir.  Cyrus  W.  Field,  Mr. 
Abram  S.  Hewitt,  and  ^[r.  Wilson  G.'  Hunt.  Before  the  con* 
soHdation  the  two  first  named  gentlemen  held  a  considerable 
amount  of  stock  in  the  old  American  Telegraph  Company. 
But,  sir,  they  sold  it  all  out  before  the  consolidation  was  effected, 
and  since  that  they  havo  picked  up  only  a  few  shares.  j\rr. 
Hunt,  from  the  connexion  of  his  nephew,  ^[r  Mclvinney,  with 
Mr.  Craig,  and  his  own  arrangements  with  that  gentleman  and 
his  partner?,  and  otherwise,  became  possessed  of  a  considerable 
amount  of  the  old  American  Company's  stock  in  his  own  right 
and  as  executor  of  Mr.  Mclvinney. 

I  find,  sir,  that  the  stock  held  by  Mr.  Peter  Cooper  and  the 
other  parties,  who  sigiied  the  call  for  this  meeting,  amounts  to 
972  shares. 

Sir,  1  havo  more  shares  than  that  standing  in  my  name  on 
the  books  of  the  company  in  my  own  right  and  as  trustee  for 
othei's. 

Ashamed  of  this  mitrerable  display  of  weakness,  the  appel- 
lants published  in  the  newspapers  a  mutilated  copy  of  the 
call,  omitting  the  statement  of  the  shares  set  oppoi:itc  the  names 
of  the  signers.  What  right  had  they  to  do  that?  If  they 
had  published  a  true  copy  of  the  document,  newspaper  editors 
and  others  would  not  have  been  deceived  into  the  belief  that 
the  signers  were  large  owners  of  stock.  Why,  sir,  for  example, 
I  liave  seen  it  stated  in  the  newspapers  that  Messrs.  Brown, 
Brothers  6:  Co.,  who  signed  the  call,  were  largo  stockholders, 
whilst  the  fact  is  that  tliey  hold  but  12  shares  which  they 
got  in  exchange  for  stock  in  the  New  York  and  AVashington 
Printing  Telegraph  Cornpai.y,  which  latter  stock  Mas  given  to 
them  by  Mr.  ^[oiris  and  myself  for  the  stock  of  the  old  New 
York  and  Philadelphia  noii:c  Lino  which  was  in  reality  worth- 
less. 

Mr.  Hunt  lias  standing  in  his  name,  in  his  own  right,  and  as 
trustee  for  others  7 TO  shares.  If  we  add  the  stock  of  !N[essrs. 
Hunt,  Field,  and  Hewitt,  to  that  of  all  the  other  j)artie.s  who 
signed  the  call,  mc  have  only  a  total  of  1779  shares,  or  177,000 


e 


vl 


d  liars.    Tbo  parties  supporting  tlio  Kxccutivo  Committee  aro 

now  ready  to  cast  over  ten  thousand  votes,  representing  over  a        I M 

million  of  dollars. 

Let  mo  say  a  few  words  as  to  Mr.  Peter  Cooper's  position 
in  this  matter.  Some  ihontlis  boforo  the  consolidation  was 
effected  Mr.  Hewitt,  who  is  Mr.  Peter  Cooper's  son-in-law, 
complained  bitterly  about  Mr.  Peter  Cooj)er's  having  been 
induced  to  invest  his  money  in  telegraph  enterprises.  I  had 
nothiu^  to  do  with  that ;  on  the  contrary,  he  engaged  in  those 
enterprises  in  opposition  to  my  interests.  Mr.  Hewitt  said  tl»at 
H*"'"'*  "5  ho  would  be  ghid  to  sell  all  the  stock  held  by  himself,  Mr. 

Mr.  Edward  ~  ■  ' 

^nSckl'  ^ctc^  Cooper,  and  Mr.  Edward  Cooper,  that  they  wantol  the 
money  to  use  in  their  legitimate  business.  Mr.  Hewitt  and  Mr. 
Edward  Cooper,  a  sou  of  Mr.  Peter  Cooper,  were  then  two  of 
the  trustees  of  the  American  and  House  Companies,  whose  lines 
were  then  worked  togetiier  under  a  contract  for  a  consolidation. 

Mr.  Hewitt  wanted  to  sell  the  whole  of  Mr.  Peter  Coopers 
stock.  I  suggested  that  it  would  look  better  if  he  kept  some  of 
it.  He  had  previous  to  this  retired  from  any  active  participa- 
tion in  telegraph  affairs,  and  had  transferred  a  large  portion  of 
his  stock  to  his  son,  Edward  Cooper,  and  to  his  son-in-law,  Mr. 
Hewitt.  The  whole  amount  of  the  stock  held  by  all  three  of 
them  was  then  $30,000.  ^Ir.  Morris  and  myself  concluded  that 
wo  would  purchase  all  that  stock  except  $o,000  to  be  kept  by 
Mr.  Peter  Cooper.  The  Cooper  family  have  since  obtained 
some  more  shares,  and  now  own  altogether  350  shares  of  this 
Company.  t 

When  I  negotiated  the  purcljase  with  Mr.  Hewitt,  he  prom- 
ised mo  that  he  and  Mr.  Edward  Cooper  would  retire  when- 
ever requested  to  do  so  by  mo  and  Mr.  Morris.  We  did  not 
want  their  stock,  but  being  dissatisfied  with  their  subserviency 
to  Mr.  Craig,  wo  wanted  to  get  rid  of  them.  AVe  paid  some 
thousands  more  than  their  stock  was  worth  at  tho  time,  for  that 
was  a  critical  period  in  telegraph  aftairs,  and  very  few  people 
believed  that  tho  consolidation  which  I  was  endeavoring  to  ef- 
fect, including  the  purchase  of  the  Morse  and  House  patents, 
and  nearly  all  the  outstanding  claims  of  Morse  and  his  assigns 
for  infringements  of  the  Morso  patents,  would  ever  be  effected. 

Mr.  Hewitt  told  me  that  he  know  nothing  about  telegraph 


IV' 


matters;  wliich  appeared  to  him  to  bo  of  a  very  coinplicatotl 
cbaractor — that  ho  did  not  intend  to  tako  the  trouble  to  Icnrn, 
not  having  interest  onougli  to  warrant  his  doing  so,  but  that  l»o 
did  not  moan  anything  to  bo  done  until  ho  understood  all  about 
it.    I  concluded  that  it  was  advisable  to  ]>urchaso  his  stock*. 

I  should  state,  sir,  that  my  interests,  and  thoso  of  Mi  Morris, 
in  telegraph  lines  and  patents,  are  very  large — the  stocL  .  a^ono 
hold  by  us  in  this  Company,  and  in  tho  Western  Union,  and 
Kow  York  and  Luftalo  Companies,  exceeding  $-400,000.  It  was, 
therefore,  an  act  of  prudence  on  our  part  to  prevent,  at  the  cost 
of  a  few  thousand  dollars,  the  hostile  movements  of  Messrs. 
Hewitt  and  Edward  Cooper. 

On  the  15th  day  of  April,  1359.  we  purchased  tho  stock  held 
by  Mr.  Hewitt  and  Mr.  Edward  Cooper,  but  they,  at  our  request, 
continued  to  act  as  trustees  until  tho  organization  was  h&d  under 
tho  cliarter. 

One  of  tiie  provisions  of  that  charter  was,  that  tho  President 
and  two  Directors  should  be  residents  of  New  Jerioy.  The 
charter  named  tho  Directors  to  servo  until  the  annual  election 
in  January,  ISCO.  Mr.  Hewitt  and  myself  wore  the  only  Di- 
rectors resident  in  New  Jersey.  Mr.  Hewitt  was,  therefore, 
elected  nominal  President,  without  salary,  tho  duties  of  the  of- 
fice being  performed  by  the  Vice-President,  Jlr.  IJarnum.  It 
was  distinstly  understood  and  agreed  at  the  annual  election  in 
January  last,  that  when  I  could  get  tho  charter  amended  so  that 
it  should  not  be  necessary  to  have  tho  President,  or  aiy  of  tho 
Directors  reside  in  Xew  Jci*scy,  Mr.  Hewitt  would  resign  his 
scat  as  a  Director,  in  favor  of  Col.  II.  M.  Hoe.  Tlic  charter 
was  so  amended  last  winter,  but  Mr.  Hewitt  has  refused  to  re- 
sign his  seat. 

At  tho  meetijig  of  the  Board,  on  tho  Otli  of  March  last,  Mr. 
Hewitt  resigned  his  nominal  office  of  President,  and  Mr.  I3ar- 
num  was  elected  in  his  place,  ^[r.  Hewitt,  on  that  occasion, 
denied  that  he  had  been  elected  on  the  understanding  I  have 
referred  to,  but  on  being  told  by  me,  as  well  as  tho  President, 
and  other.-,  tliat  such  was  our  understanding,  ho  consented  to 
resign,  but  afterwards  v.ithdrew  his  resignation,  and  has  ever 
since  continued  lo  act  as  a  member  of  the  I'oard. 


ifl 


Sir,  I  complain  of  tlio  comluct  of  tiio  gontlcinnn  \:\  that  par- 
ticular. Ho  is  tlio  spokcsmnn  uf,  nnd  tbo  head  niul  fiuiit  of  tlio 
opposition  to  the  KxeciUivo  Coimnittcc.  I  wouM  not  Imvo 
consented  to  tho  'vivnient  of  .$:i5,000  to  avoid  his  antaijonistn 
if  1  had  supposed  i\o  would  break  faith  v.ith  ujc,  and  on  tlic  ac- 
quisition of  a  few  shares  of  stock,  cither  by  gift  from  his  father- 
in-law,  or  by  purchase,  insist  on  retaining  tho  ofHco  of  director, 
and  lead  tho  opposition  against  mo  and  my  party,  I  know  how 
formidablo  ho  was  as  an  experienced  Tammany  Ilall  leader,  ac- 
customed to  political  mauttjvuring,  and  experienced  in  the  art 
of  ruling  by  miuorilics.  I  know  very  well  that  tlie  fact  of  our 
party  having  a  large  majority  of  tho  stock,  and  a  large  majority 
in  tbo  Board,  would  not  bo  decisive. 
Tbt  ttum  I  ^  ^^'"^  "*^'  *'*^"  ^^  "^'  surprised,  sir,  when,  on  tho  strength  of 
■?ffl"ii»*!hi  ft^out  one-seventb  part  of  the  stock,  this  restless  and  dashing 
Ch*ir.  partisan  got  up  a  meeting  of  tiio  stockiioldors,  to  ovcr-rulo  tho 
Board  of  Director— sought  to  pnl  in  tlio  cliair  a  gentleman 
who  knew  nothing  at  all  about  the  afi'airs  of  tho  Company — a 
gentleman  holding  but  134  shares  of  stock,  and  that  as  an  execu- 
tor and  agent,  but  who  had  tho  great  merit,  in  tijo  eyes  of  Mr. 
Hewitt,  of  having  been  the  attorney  of  D.  II.  Craig. 

You  recollect,  sir,  how  in  strict  accordance  with  Tammany 
Hall  precedent,  Mr.  Edward  Cooper,  another  experienced  wire- 
■  puller,  hailing  from  that  classic  region,  moved,  on  t'lo  stsoke  of 
12  o'clock,  that  ^Ir.  Kiggs  do  take  tho  chair,  put  t!ic  motion, 
and  with  half  a  dozen  nays  to  one  yea,  declared  tho  motion 
carried.  Your  fii mncss,  sir,  defeated  that  bold  manceuvre. 
Tht  pro-  But  it  did  not  deter  the  same  party  from  offering  the  absurd 
irm. .To  proposition,  that  the  affairs  of  tho  company  should  bo  taken 
out  of  the  hands  of  tho  Directors,  and  placed  in  tho  hands  of  a 
committee  of  three  persons,  two  of  whom  are  small  stockhold- 
ers, having  no  experience  whatever  in  tho  business  of  the  Com- 
pany. Of  course,  a  majority  of  tho  committeo  was  to  bo  em- 
powered to  act,  and  that  majority  consisted  of  Mr.  Jas.  Free- 
land,  who  has  five  shares,  and  Mr.  Horace  Galpin,  Mho  has 
.  thirty  shares.  I  never  hoard  of  either  of  the  gentlemen  before 
in  connection  with  telegraph  business,  but  I  know  tliey  cannot 
possibly  possess  that  acquaintance  with  the  subject  in  contra- 
vorsy  which  is  necessary  to  lead  to  judicious  {\ctIou  upon  it, 


orerrul*  the 
Bo«rd, 


m 


v|. 


d 


Ki 


Why,  sir,  did  Mr.  Hewitt  offer  this  resolution  ?  He  could 
not  expect  it  to  be  adopted — lie  could  not  expect  the  directors, 
who  are  very  large  stockholders,  to  vote  for  the  resolution  and 
thus  to  stultify  themselves  and  throw  the  affairs  of  the  company 
into  the  hands  of  novices.  But,  sir,  by  offering  this  resolution 
Mr.  Hewitt  had  the  desired  opportunity  of  spreading  before 
the  newspaper  reporters,  whom  his  party  have  brought  hero,  a 
one-sided  statement,  which,  he  hopes,  may  alarm  some  of  the 
stockholders  and  ultimately  induce  a  sufficient  niimber  of  them 
to  act  with  him  and  Mr.  Craig  against  the  majority  of  the 
Board  of  Directors  and  the  Executive  Committee.  Mr.  Hewitt 
and  his  supporters  have,  it  is  true,  but  little  stock,  but  they 
have  the  support  of  D.  H.  Craig,  and  through  tha<"  *^'j  expect 
to  rule  this  company. 

Mr.  Cyrus  "NV.  Field  has  told  this  meeting  that  he  was  dis-  g^,a  of  Mr. 
gusted  with  my  conduct  in  October  last,  and  that  he  sold  out f iJ,j.","o^; 
his  stock  to  me  because  he  thought  that  the  coui*se  commenced 
by  the  Executive  Committee  was  going  to  lead  to  the  ruin  of 
the  Company. 

For  this  unseemly  language  the  gentleman  was  called  to 
order.  Now,  sir,  tlie  fact  is,  that  the  gentleman  sold  out  to  me 
all  the  stock  he  had  in  the  old  American  Company  before  the 
Executive  Committee,  whose  acts  he  complains  of,  came  into 
existence.  That  being  so,  this  meeting  will  know  how  to  receive 
the  gentleman's  statements  in  future.  I  will,  sir,  with  your 
permission,  state  briefly  the  facts  connected  with  this  purchase. 

On  11th  October,  1850,  Mr.  Cyrus  W.  Field,  being  the  owner 
of  91  shares  of  the  stock  of  the  old  American  Telegraph  Com- 
pany, offered  to  sell  the  same  to  me  at  par,  and  offered  to  take 
my  note  at  three  months  for  the  amount.  Ho  required  an  an- 
swer by  the  next  day,  before  noon. 

At  the  time  of  the  making  of  the  offer  a  negotiation  was 
going  on  between  the  reproseiitativcs  of  the  Magnetic  Telcgra|)h 
Company  and  tliosc  of  the  old  Anicricati  and  House  companies 
for  a  consolidation  of  their  lines.  The  parties  were  assembled 
in  Kcw  York,  fresh  difficulties  iuul  arisen  in  the  negotiation  and 
many  were  of  opinion  that  consolidation  would  not  be  effected. 
I  held  a  different  opinion,  and  therefore  concluded  to  accept  Mr. 


10 


Cjrus  "NV.  Field's  ofier  to  sell  me  his  stock.  And  on  the  12tli 
of  Octobei",  before  noon  of  that  day,  I  sent  him  a  note  which 
reads  as  follows : 

C.  W.  Field,  Esq. : 

Dear  sir, — ^I  am  willing  to  purchase  the  stock  on  the  terras 
mentioned  to  you  in  my  note  yesterday. 

t'  R.  "W.  Russell. 

October  12, '59. 

This  is  a  copy  of  the  note  here  referred  to : 

C.  W.  Field,  Esq. : 

Dear  sir, — 1  have  been  trying  to  see  a  friend  to  join  me  in 
that  purchase — terms  par — you  taking  my  note  at  three  months, 
m'.u  interest  from  date.  I  shall  see  him  to  morrow.  If  I  make 
the  purchase  Mr.  Morris  will,  I  presume,  take  your  place  as  one 
of  the  directors. 

R.  "\V.  Russell. 

N.  Y.,  Oct.  11,  '59. 

Mr.  Cyrus  W.  Field  called  on  mo  shorMy  after  receiving  this 
note.  lie  then  varied  the  terms  of  the  offer  he  had  made  me 
and  instead  of  transferring  the  stock  to  nie  and  taking  the  hy- 
potliecatiou  of  the  new  certificate  to  bo  made  out  in  my  name, 
he  insisted  on  holding  the  stock  until  the  note  should  be  paid. 

Rather  than  give  up  the  bargain  I  consented  to  these  altera- 
tions. 

Ou  the  evening  of  the  12th  October,  the  terms  of  the  consol- 
idation were  finally  arranged.  The  Magnetic  Company  at  the 
last  moment  consenting  to  yield  some  important  points  whicli 
they  had  up  to  that  time  stoutly  contended  for. 

After  this  result  Mr.  C.  W.  Field  refused  to  let  mo  have  his 
stock  even  on  the  amended  terms  wliich  he  had  exacted  from 
me. 

.  First  he  said  he  could  not  let  me  have  his  stock  unless 
I  would  purchase  D.  Field's  stock  also.  I  remonstrated  but 
finally  consented  to  include  that  in  my  purchase.  Then  Mr. 
Cyrus  AV.  Field  came  to  mo  again  and  said  I  must  also  take 


!  U 


h 


til. 


,    4 


V  1 


11 


the  stock  of  hig  nieco  Jcannio  L.  Field.  I  remonstrated  again, 
but  concluded  that  I  would  submit  to  take  that  also.  Then  I 
was  told  by  Mr.  Cyrus  AV.  Field  that  I  must  assume  his  sub- 
scription for  the  purchase  of  stock  of  the  Magnetic  Telegraph 
Company,  to  the  amount  of  five  thousand  dollars.  I  resisted 
this,  but  finding  that  I  sliould  have  to  bring  an  action  to  com- 
pel the  performance  of  the  bargain,  I  deposited  with  Mr.  Peter 
Cooper  the  sum  of  five  thousand  dollars  to  indemnify  Mr,  Cy- 
rus "W.  Field  from  the  subscription  in  question.  Finding  that  I 
was  not  to  be  baffled  in  this  way,  Mr.  Cyrus  W.  Field  got  Mr. 
Peter  Cooper  and  others  to  try  and  induce  me  to  give  up  the 
bargain,  and  even  brought  the  matter  up  at  a  meeting  of  the 
trustees  in  order  to  secure  their  intervention  in  his  behalf,  but  I 
replied  that  he  could  purchase  the  same  amount  of  stock  that 
ho  had  sold  to  me  at  an  advance  of  about  twenty  per  cent., 
that  being  the  rise  consequent  upon  the  consolidation.  Finally 
I  got  the  purchase  completed,  Mr.  Cyrus  AY.  Field  securing  to 
himself  all  dividends  that  might  be  declared  thereafter  on  the 
stock  of  the  old  American  Company.  The  dividends  so  reserved 
were  estimated  at  about  $700.  Of  course  by  the  terms  of  the 
original  bargain  I  was  entitled  to  all  accruing  dividends,  but  I 
was  compelled  to  relinquish  them. 

I  heard  no  more  about  the  stock  of  D.  Field,  and  Jeannio  L.' 
Field,  after  I  had  agreed  take  it. 

When  Mr.  Cyrus  W.  Field  first  asked  rac  to  purchase  his 
stock,  I  understood  that  ho  had  had  a  serious  misunderstanding 
with  Mr.  Abram  S.  Hewitt,  and  was  desirous  of  avoiding  any 
further  commuuication  with  him  in  relation  to  Telegraph  mat- 
ters. 

Indeed,  Mr.  Hewitt  had  told  me  a  short  time  before  that  he  had 
made  up  his  mind  that  he  would  not  consent  to  sit  in  the  Board 
the  following  year  with  !Mr.  Cyrus  W.  Field. 

The  immediate  occasion  of  this  ill  feeling  was  a  fierce  dispute 
between  them  respecting  certain  bills  which  had  been  presented 
for  expenses  incurred  by  Mr.  Matthew  D.  Field  (a  brother  of 
Mr.  Cyrus  AV.  Field),  in  opposing  the  application  made  by  Mr. 
F.  0.  J.  Smith  and  others,  to  the  Legislature  of  Massachusetts, 
for  a  charter  to  incorporate  a  Telegraph  Company  to  lay  a  tele- 
graph cable  between  Capo  Ann,  Mass.,  and  Yarmouth,  Nova 


19 


Scotia.  Tliosc  expenses  were  incurred  after  Mr.  Hewitt  had, 
on  behalf  of  tho  Trustees,  and  the  old  American  Company,  pos- 
itively prohibited  the  incurring  of  an\  more  expenses  in  that 
matter,  ^'r.  Matthew  D.  Field  engaged  that  he  would  go  to 
Boston  and  oppose  tho  bill,  charging  only  his  traveling  ex- 
penses, which  should  not  exceed  fifty  dollars.  He  received  the 
fifty  dollars,  and  then  bills  were  sent  in  for  expenses  incurred 
by  him  in  the  name  of  tho  old  American  Company,  to  the  amount 
of  Dearly  three  thousand  dollars.  Mr.  Hewitt  refused  to  allow 
these  bills  to  be  paid,  and  insisted  that  Mr.  Cyrus  W.  Field 
should  be  left  to  pay  them  out  of  his  own  pocket,  he  having 
given  the  parties  who  had  the  claims,  reasons  to  believe  that 
Matthew  D.  Field  was  duly  authorized. 

I  interposed,  sir,  in  this  quarrel,  and  recommended  the  pay- 
ment  of  the  claims,  and  after  some  delay  that  recommendation 
was  adopted. 

Although  I  supposed  at  the  time  that  Mr.  Cyrus  "W.  Field's 
offer  to  sell  me  his  stock  arose  out  of  that  misunderstanding 
between  himself  and  Mr.  Hewitt,  I  now  think  that  tho  main 
reason  which  induced  Mr.  Cyrus  "W.  Field  to  sell  was,  that  he 
doubted  whether  the  consolidation  would  take  place,  and  he 
knew  very  well  that  if  it  should  not,  tho  stock  would  be  almost 
if  not  quite  worthless. 

I  will  not  follow  that  gentleman's  bad  example,  and  say  that 
I  was  disgusted  with  his  conduct  respecting  the  sale  of  his  stock 
to  me.  I  will  leave  it  to  the  spontaneous  condemnation  of  every 
right  minded  honest  man . 


■  :  <i 


"1 1 

t 


If' 

'i  • 


:-I  -^ 


,t  I 


1C 


! 


c.w.Fietd'i  In  the  pamphlet  of  the  Executive  Committee  it  is  stated  (p. 
theEx.com!l3)  *'.that  the  Executive  Committee  have  been  informed  thy t 
i.AiioPreMthe  Newfoundland  Company's   chaim's   for  messages  of  tho 

rates,  on  ii. 

Newfounj-  Pfcss  have  been  lately  increased  four  hundred  per  cent,  or 

land  linea.     ,  „  * 

thereabouts. 

Mr.  Cyrus  "\V.  Field  in  his  address  to  this  meeting  has  as- 
serted that  instead  of  raising  tlicy  had  reduced  the  rates  33^  per 
cent,  from  the  1st  of  June  last. 

The  Executive  Committee  have  only  stated  wliat  they  were 
informed,  and  it  may  1.  ore  be  added  that  the  information  was 


M 


\i 


13 


communicated  by  Mr.  Peter  Cooper  to  tho  President  of  this 
Company  a  few  weeks  ago.  Mr.  Peter  Cooper  mentioned  the 
fact  in  order  to  show  liow  generous  tho  Sow  York  Associated 
Press  was.  Ho  stated  that  as  soon  as  the  Association  was  in- 
formed that  the  Newfoundland  Lino  needed  better  pay  for  the 
Press  messages,  it  at  once  consented  to  pay  about  four  times  as 
much  as  it  had  paid  theretofore — that  this  change  had  been 
made  very  recently.  Formerly  the  charges  for  Press  messages 
from  St.  Johns  or  Capo  Pace,  Newfoundland,  were  the  same 
charges  as  for  private  messages — no  allowance  was  made  on 
account  of  the  great  length  of  Press  messages.  By  the  change 
recently  made,  as  I  understand,  Mr.  Cyrus  W".  Field  and  his 
colleagues  will  derive  a  much  greater  revenue  from  the  New 
York  Associated  Press.  I  am  informed  by  Mr.  Zabriskie,  a 
news  reporter,  that  the  new  charge  varies  according  to  the 
importance  of  the  message,  i.  e.,  that  the  charge  depends  upon 
tho  question  whether  the  news  bo  a  certain  given  number  of 
davs  later.  Mr.  Zabriskie  derives  his  information  from  Mr.  C. 
AV.  Field.  "Within  the  last  few  days  Mr.  C.  W.  Field  told 
him  that  the  New  York  Associated  Press  paid  more  than  double 
the  regular  rates.  This  was  in  answer  to  a  question  what  rates 
the  Newfoundland  Company  would  charge  him  for  independ- 
ent Press  messages  to  be  sent  over  tho  lines  of  the  Company. 

It  will  be  observed  that  the  remark  of  tho  Executive  Com- 
mittee is  confined  to  "  the  Newfoundland  Company's  charges 
for  messages  of  the  Press."  They  do  not  speak  of  the  regular 
tariff  of  prices  for  messages  in  general.  It  may  be  quite  true 
that  that  tariff  has  been  reduced — the  fact  being  that  the  pri- 
vate messages  sent  over  tho  Newfoundland  lines  are  compara- 
tively unimportant  in  a  telegraphic  point  of  view. 

But  Mr.  Field  has  either  intentionally  or  otherwise  deceived 
this  meeting  by  his  remarks — he  has,  in  a  grossly  offensive 
manner,  charged  us  with  wilful  falsehood — he  has  left  the  im- 
pression on  the  minds  of  many  of  his  hearers  that  he  had  re- 
cently reduced  the  charges  for  messages  of  tho  Presb  sent  over 
the  Newfoundland  lines,  instead  of  having  raised  those  charges 
as  alleged. 

It  will  not  do,  sir,  for  the  gentleman  to  seek  to  get  out  of  this 
dilemma  by  pointing  out  tho  distinction  between  the  charges 
for  messages  of  the  Press  and  tho  regular  "  tariff  of  prices." 


•u 


The  fact  is,  as  I  am  informed  and  believe,  that  the  Nc^vfound- 
land  lines  did  not  pay  expenses,  and  it  was  represented  that 
they  must  be  discontinued,  unless  the  New  York  Associated 
Press  would  raise  the  amount  of  compensation  to  bo  paid  to 
the  Newfoundland  Telegraph  Company  for  the  foreign  news 
transmitted  over  their  lines.  The  JVew  York  Association  (here- 
upon  did  agree  to  ^ay  more  for  the  foreign  newSy  and  yet  !Mr. 
Cyrus  "W.  Field  tells  us  that  the  rates  have  been  reduced  33 i 
per  cent.* 


ing  0 
rufd'a  tUtc 


*  The  following  affidarit  fully  contradicts  tlio  statement  of  Mr.  C.  W.  Field,  that 
the  rates  for  Press  messages  on  the  Newfouadlaud  Line  bad  lately  been  reduced 
8S^  per  cent. : 

AffldaTit  of      "  Michael  A.  Zabriskic,  of  the  city  of  New  York,  being  duly  sworn,  eaith  *.  That 

eon^rldlci!  ®"  *''«  ^^'•»  ^^^^  °^  J""^'  ^^'^^»  ^^'*  "deponent  vent  to  the  office  of  Cyrus  W.  Field, 
^'-  in  Beekmna  street,  in  the  city  of  New  York,  to  ascertain  from  him,  as  one  of  the 
Dtot.  directors  of  the  Newfoundland  Telegraph  Comp.iny,  what  rates  that  company 
would  charge  this  deponent  fur  messages  for  the  newspaper  press,  to  be  sent  over 
the  lines  of  the  said  company,  from  Cape  Race  and  St.  Johns  to  the  United  States. 
This  deponent  had  an  interview  with  siid  C.  W.  Field  on  tliat  occasion.  This 
deponent,  when  he  made  those  inquiries,  knew  what  tlie  regular  rates  for  ordin- 
ary messages  were ;  but,  having  understood  that  tlio  ogunt  of  the  A.--sociated 
Press  had  a  contract  with  the  said  company,  for  tlie  transinission  of  his  messages 
over  their  lines,  this  deponent  was  desirous  of  learning  whether  he  could  compete 
with  said  agent  in  the  supply  of  foreign  news,  for  the  use  of  the  newspaper  press 
of  this  country. 

"  This  deponent  requested  the  said  C.  W.  Field  to  show  him  the  said  contract,  in 
order  that  he  might  see  whether  it  conferred  any  special  privileges  upon  the  said 
agent  The  said  C.  W.  Field  declined  to  let  this  deponent  see  the  said  contract, 
but  told  him  that  the  Associaied  Press  paid  about  double  the  regular  rates,  and 
that  they  paid  as  much  for  ten  words  as  for  seven  hundred  and  fifty ;  that  the 
rates  of  tolls  charged  to  the  Asso:iatioii  were  graduated  according  to  the  value  of 
the  oewi,  as  it  might  be  one  or  more  days  later  thun  previous  advices. 

"The  said  C.  W.  Field  gtive  to  this  deponent, as  a  reason  for  the  excess  in  the 
tolls  paid  by  the  Associated  Prcs.^,  that  an  idea,  at  one  time,  prevailed  of  abandon- 
ing telegraphic  commuuicatiun  with  Cape  Race,  in  consequence  of  the  great 
expense  attendant  on  keeping  the  line  in  repair;  and  that,  in  order  to  assist  ia 
sustaining  it,  the  Associated  Press  were  willing  t«  pay  an  advance<1  rate. 

"  The  said  C.  W.  Field  also  observed,  that  the  rates  for  ordinary  mossngcs  had 
lately  been  reduced  by  the  Newfoundland  Comj).iny  thirty-tlirco  per  cent.  The 
said  C.  W.  Field  told  this  deponent,  that  he  would  be  charged  only  the  ordinary  . 
rates ;  upon  w^hich  this  deponent  inquired  what  privileges  the  agent  of  the  New 
York  Association  was  to  have  in  return  for  the  payment  of  more  than  the  usual 
rates,  but  this  deponent  failed  to  obtain  any  reply  to  that  question  sati&factory  to 


■|!i 


■I 
if 


^ 


i\' 


15- 


Sir,  I  do  not  l)clieve  that  the  rates  we  are  talking  about,  t.  «., 
the  Press  rates,  have  beca  reduced,  on  the  contrary  I  have  no 
doubt  they  have  been  raised,  as  Mr.  Peter  Cooper  stated. 

And  I  beg  that  the  stockholders  will  take  especial  notice  of  this 
matter.  I  want  the  stockholders  to  note  the  fact  that  not  only  are 
Mr.  Cyrus  AV.  Field's  charges  of  falsehood  cast  about  without  the 
slightest  care  or  reflection,  but  that  his  most  deliberate  assertions 
of  matters  of  fact,  especially  within  his  own  knowledge  and  as  to 
his  own  acts,  are  wholly  unreliable.  As  there  may  be  hereafter 
many  issues  of  fact  raised  between  that  gentleman  and  myself, 
and  other  members  of  the  Board,  I  crave  the  careful  attention 
of  this  meeting  to  the  statements  put  forth  by  Cyrus  W.  Field, 
that  the  rates  charged  to  the  Press  for  messages  sent  over  the 
Newfoundland  line  had  lately  been  reduced  33-J  per  cent.  Ex- 
amine this  and  see  whether  it  is  true,  and  if  you  find  that  it  is 
not,  what  can  you  think  of  the  man  who  has  had  the  hardihood 
to  charge  us  with  deliberate  falsehood,  because  wo  repeated 
what  we  had  heard  of  the  matter. 

Sir,  the  Executive  Committee  referred  to  this  increase  of 
rates  on  the  Newfoundland  lines  to  show  that  we  too  should  bo 
justified  in  so  adjusting  our  tariff  for  through  messages  and 
drop  copies  containing  the  foreign  news  as  to  make  the  Eastern 
lines  pay  expenses  and  yield  a  reasonable  profit. 

To  this  increase  of  rates  for  Press  messages  on  the  Newfound- 
land lines,  I  attribute  the  disinclination  of  the  Newfoundland 
Telegraph  Company  to  receive  the  overtures  of  this  Company, 
recently  made,  for  a  negotiation  for  a  lease  of  the  Newfound^ 
land  lines  to  this  Company.  A  little  while  ago  the  Newfound- 
land Company  could  not  meet  its  expenses  by  its  earnings  and 
would  have  been  very  willing  to  lease  to  us,  but  now  the  case  is 
dilicrent. 


liim;  the  saiJ  C.  W.  rioltl  merely  informing  liin  tliat  the  New  York  Association 
had  agreed  to  pay  the  extra  rates,  in  orJor  to  ai^ist  ia  sustainiug  the  line. 

"This  deponent  wrote  down  the  particulars  of  the  said  interview  on  the  follow- 
ing day. 

"M.  A.  Zabrukik. 
"  Sworn  before  ."ne,  this  ) 
13th  August,  1800,      f 

"Jons  BisscLL, 

"  Notary  Public." 


J 


Mr.  0.  W. 

ri«ld'i 

ehtrgei. 


16 


I  will  now  notice,  sir,  tho  other  charge  brought  by  Mr. 
Cyrus  AV".  Field  against  tho  pamphlet  of  tho  Executive  Com- 
niitteo.    After  statinj;  that  there  is  an  "  utter  falsehood  "  or  a 


i  Ai  to  "  gross  misrepresentation  "  on  every  page  of  the  pamphlet,  he 
the  om"  Am,  proceeds  to  specify  only  two  instances.  One  of  them  is  the 
Company,  statement  of  the  Executive  Committee  on  the  subject  of  the 
prices  charged  by  tho  Newfoundland  Company  for  Press  mes- 
sages. The  other  alleged  misstatement  is  in  relation  to  the  divi- 
dends of  tho  old  American  Telegraph  Company.  That  state- 
ment is  on  page  C  of  the  pamphlet.  After  referring  to  the 
special  contract  for  the  daily  transmission  of  the  Associated 
Press  messages  to  an  unlimited  extent  from  New  York  to  Boston 
for  the  sura  of  $650  per  month,  it  says :  "  The  patronage  of  the 
Press,  itnder  that  arrangemejit,  had  been  a  burthen,  instead  of  a 
source  of  profit.  The  old  American  Company,  in  consequence 
of  being  burthened  by  that  patronage,  was  often  unable  to  send 
private  messages  promptly,  and  could  not  make  dividends, 
whilst  its  rival,  tho  Union  Company,  being  fortunately  relieved 
from  the  custom  of  the  New  York  Associated  Press,  was  carry- 
ing on  a  successful  and  profitable  business." 

Mr.  Cyrus  "W.  Field,  referring  to  this  passage,  says  that  it 
contains  the  false  statement  "that  the  American  Company 
VEYER  paid  any  dividends"  whereas,  in  truth,  it  had  paid  two 
dividends  of  10  per  cent.* 


*  The  following  is  an  extract  from  tbe  notes  of  Mr.  Underhill,  a  ehort-haad 
writer,  who  took  full  notes  of  the  proceedings : 

ifr.  C.  W.  litld:  I  did  not  intend  to  notice  thai  pamphlet,  because  it  had  come 
from  the  Executive  Committee  of  three.  I  have  read  it  carefully.  la  that 
pamphlet  there  are  exactly  thirty-six  statements  which  are  cither  utterly  false,  or 
gross  misrepresentations,  and  I  thought  them  beneath  my  notice.  I  am  surprised, 
•8  I  told  Mr.  Barnum  at  another  meeting,  that  a  gentleman  for  whom  I  had  so 
much  respect  should  have  signed  such  a  document.  I  cannot  bclicTc  that  he  ever 
read  that  document;  I  don't  liuow,  but  at  all  events,  there  are  statements  whicli 
are  known  to  every  one  to  be  perfectly  false.  I  will  mention  one.  They  say  that 
I  purchased  thirty-one  slinres  of  slock  since.  Mr.  Russell  knows  that  in  October 
I  become  disgusted  with  his  conduct,  and  did  sell  my  shares. 

The  President :  I  cannot  permit  afiy  personal  remarks  to  be  made  here. 

Mr.  Field:  I  don't  mean  any  disrespect  to  you,  sir;  I  believe  that  under  e.\clt.e 
meet  you  signed  that  pamphlet,  although  you  did  not  know  what  it  contiiiuod. 
Bomo  of  tho  stateiaents,  cs  the  gentlemen  know,  and  as  I  will  shov,  were  not 
true,    In  one  of  them  they  eay  that  tho  Newfoundland  Company  have  raised  their 


17 


•J  :i 


:.'. 


■? 


»i 


Now,  it  will  bo  porceived  that  tho  Executive  Cotnmitteo  ilo 
not  say  that  tho  olJ  American  Company  had  nevcr^  in  tho  wholo 
course  of  its  career,  made  dividends,  but  merely  state  that  it 
was  prevented  from  making  dividends  by  tho  patronage  of  tlie 
Press  under  the  onerous  arrangement  for  tho  transmission  of  an 
unlimited  number  of  words  for  a  small  fixed  sum  of  money. 
The  fact  is,  that  tho  old  American  Company  paid  no  dividends 
during  the  two  years  preceding  the  consolidation.  If  it  had  not 
been  burthened  with  tho  business  of  the  Press,  under  the  ob- 
noxious arrangement  before  referred  to,  it  might  have  been  ablo 
to  make  dividends  during  that  period.  Tho  remark  of  tho  Ex- 
ecutive Committee  was  therefore  strictly  correct,  and  Mr.  C.  AV. 
Field's  charge  of  falsehood  is  founded  upon  a  misquotation. 
The  old  American  Telegraph  Company  made  two  dividends  in 
the  early  part  of  its  career,  bnt  I  apprehend  tiiat  an  examina- 
tion of  the  aifairs  of  that  company  would  show  that  tho  net 
profits  were  not  sufBcient  to  pay  those  dividends  or  eitlier  of 
them.  I  am  strengthened  in  this  conjecture  by  tlio  fact  tliat 
when  I,  with  Mr.  Morris,  purchased  tho  stock  of  !A[r.  Abram  S. 
Hewitt  and  Mr.  Edward  Cooper  in  that  company,  we  discovered 
that  tho  capital  stock  was  increased  from  two  hundred  thous- 
and  dollars  to  two  hundred  and  fifty  thousand  dollars,  the 
excess  being  required  to  liquidate  the  obligations  of  the  Com- 

turiff  400  pCT  cent.  Why  diil  tlicy  not  ask  the  directora  iu  relation  to  the  mat- 
ter, those  \\'bo  arc  here  in  New  York!  Why  didn't  they  go  to  their  office  ?  Had 
they  done  80,  tliey  would  have  found  that  on  the  first  day  of  June  uc  decrcited 
the  rates  S3  1-3  per  cent.  Another  statement  is,  that  the  old  American  Company 
ntvev  paid  any  dividend.  One  of  the  signers  of  that  is  Sir.  Aldou,  a  director,  and 
ft  vice-president  from  its  e.\istencc,  and  knows  very  well  that  I  was  n  shareholder, 
nnd  that  he  was  a  shnrehoUIer,  and  that  we  both  received  dividend*  of  ten  per 
cent.,  not  per  annum,  hut  two  dividends  amounting  to  twenty  per  cent,  on  the 
total  amount  that  wc'had  paid;  that  we  received  a  hundred  per  cent,  in  addition 
to  the  stock  of  this  company,  on  which  we  have  received  twelve  per  cent,  divi- 
dends. What  is  the  reason  I  have  been  selling  my  stock?  Ectr  ulnec  the  count 
K<ii  commenced,  by  thh  Executive  Committee,  which  I thonjht  tcis  goiny  t«  LmI  to 
the  ruin  of  this  compaiiy,  I  hive  been  sellinr/  out  in  every  imtance  there  I  coitid get 
a  goofl  offer" 

I  find  on  referring  to  the  books  of  the  old  American  Company,  that  the  last 
R'l'ignmcnt  made  by  Mr.  Field  of  any  pnrt  of  his  stock  before  ho  sold  to  mo,  was 
on  October  2Sth,  1858.  The  sale  to  mc  was  on  l'2th  October,  lS:)i),  and  it  included 
every  share  of  stock  held  by  C.  W.  Field.  The  Executive  Committee  was  first 
appointed  on  23th  October,  ISiO. 

3 


18 

pany.  And  Mr.  C.  W.  Field  has  toM  us  today  that  tho  two 
dividends  made  by  that  corapany  were  not  paid  to  the  stock- 
holders, but  were  taken  in  part  payment  of  the  stock  subscrip- 
tions. 

It  is  true,  as  stated  by  Mr.  C.  "W.  Field,  that  tho  stock  of  tho 
old  American  Company  was  exclianged  for  the  stock  of  the 
considated  company  at  a  considerable  premium.  I  will  only 
take  this  occasion  to  observe  that  the  agreement  to  allow  that 
premium  was  obtained  by  certain  statements  respecting  the 
affairs  and  condition  of  the  old  American  Company  which  were 
afterwards  found  to  be  inaccurate  in  many  important  particu- 
lars. At  first  if  was  agreed,  on  the  strength  of  those  statements, 
that  a  larger  premium  should  be  allowed  to  the  old  American 
Company,  but  the  gentlemen  who  conducted  the  negotiation  on 
behalf  of  tho  Magnetic  Telegraph  Company  refused  to  allow 
the  larger  amount,  on  the  ground  that  they  had  been  misled 
by  the  misrepresentations  mado  on  behalf  of  tho  old  American 
Company.  Those  misrepresentations  caused  considerable  diffi- 
culty with  the  House  party,  when  the  stockholders  of  the  Mag- 
netic Company  refused  to  execute  the  papers  which  had  been 
prepared. 

c.  w.  Fieid'i  Sir,  it  seems  to  have  been  irapossiblu  for  Mr.  Cyrus  AV.  Field 
"  utfonr"' to  open  his  mouth  to-day  without  making  some  misstatement. 
When  Mr.  Kendall  was  stating  to  the  meeting  that  the  company 
had  recently  mado  a  reduction  in  the  charge  for  special  Press 
messages  sent  between  New  York  and  "Washington,  Mr.  Field 
exclaimed  :  "  And  that  was  voted  against  by  every  member  of 
tho  Executive  Committee."  On  the  contrary,  tho  proposition 
was  adopted  unanimously  by  every  member  of  the  Executive 
Committee,  as  the  records  of  tlio  company  will  show.  Tho 
Executive  Committee  was,  however,  opposed  to  giving  a  re- 
troactive effect  to  the  resolution,  and  the  veto  on  that  point  led 
Mr.  C.  W.  Field,  with  his  usual  want  of  accuracy,  to  make  the 
exclamation  just  quoted. 

1  have  Jiow  a  right  to  ask,  sir,  wh:U  tliis  meeting  thinks  of 
Mr.  Cyrus  AV.  Field's  impudent  {isseitioii,  that  tiiere  is  a  false- 
hood or  misrepresentation  upon  every  page  of  the  address  of 


> 

II 

.■V 

f 
1 

r 

1 

1 

^  1 

■ 


!l 


■h .- 


rP 


10 


^ 


tho  Exccutivo  Committee  ?  How  has  ho  undcrtaUon  to  estahlish 
that  assertion  ?  IIo  has  brought  forward  his  charges — only  two 
in  number — and  I  hive  shown  thcui  to  bo  false.  Instead  of  es- 
tablisliing  those  charges,  which  ho  trumped  up  so  recklessly 
against  tho  Exccutivo  Committee,  ho  has  merely  jerked  out  a 
jumble  of  misquotations  and  misstatements,  and  clearly  demon- 
strated to  tho  meeting  that  ho  is  so  loose  in  the  use  of  words  to 
express  his  moaning — when  ho  has  any — so  wholly  regardless 
of  accuracy,  and  so  intent  upon  misleading  the  stockholders, 
that  his  charges  and  statements  of  every  description  must  bo 
entirely  thrown  aside. 

Having  disposed  of  Mr.  Cyrus  W".  Field's  charges  against 
tho  pamphlet  of  the  Executive  Committee,  I  will  now  reply  to 
tho  remarks  of  Mr.  Dudley  D.  Field,  the  brother  of  Mr.  Cyrus 
•SV.  Field. 

Mr.  Dudley  D.  Field  has  assured  this  meeting  that  I  have  Mr.  d.  d. 
over  and  over  again  told   hira  that  I  was  defending  the  suits  th«»ciiooj or 
brought  by  Johnson  &;  Zabriskie,  and  could  do  so  successfully,  zabriiki*. 
I  promptly  denied  that  assertion.     Why,  sir,  instead  of  giving 
tho  gentleman  tho  assurance  lie  says  I  did,  over  and  over  again, 
I  have  not  been  on  speaking  terms  with  him  since  the  actions 
were  brouglit,  and  have  never  seen  him  but  once  since,  and  that 
was  at  tho  public  meeting  of  tho  stockholders  in  January  last. 

Tho  assertion  of  the  gentleman  must  be  known  to  all  my  col- 
leagues to  bo  unfounded,  for  they  have  heard  me  repeatedly 
denounce  the  detention  of  the  messages  of  Messrs.  Johnson  & 
Zabriskie  as  an  illegal  act. 

Even  after  I  had  informed  this  meeting  that  the  Board  of 
Directors  had  authorized  the  payment  of  damages  to  Messrs. 
Johnson  and  Zabriskie  for  that  illegal  act,  Mr.  Dudley  D.  Field 
persisted  in  representing  to  this  meeting  that  the  settlement 
had  been  made  by  the  mere  authority  of  the  Executive  Com- 
mittee.*   And  his  brother,  Mr.  Cyrus  "\V.  Field,  in  the  address 


Extract  fuom  tuk  ShortIIand  Wuiteu's  Rlpout  ok  tue  Procekdincs. 

"Mr.  RunseU  :   I  will  tell  you  tliat  the  statement  in  the  pamphlet  i?  pcifoclly 

correct — that  this  Company  has  been  sued  for  detaining  me^^agcs  at  Saokville 

until  the  agent  of  tho/iSO;iateJ  Press  could  bring  his  messages  by  Pony  Express. 

file  Amerieau  Telegraph  Company  refused  to  send  the  messages  of  the  rival  can}- 


•20 


to  tlio  stocklioldcrs,  publislicil  in  the  newspapers,  Itas  endeavored 
to  make  tbo  public  beliovo  that  the  recent  alteration  in  the 
tariiTon  messages  sent  from  New  York  to  Boston,  for  the  press, 
were  made  by  tho  solo  authority  of  the  Executive  Committee, 
he  knowing  perfectly  well  all  tho  time  that  tho  Board  of  Direc- 
tors had,  after  great  deliberation,  established  that  change. 

These  men,  tho  brothers  Field,  in  their  anxiety  to  have  flings 
at  the  Executive  Committee  take  no  pains  to  be  accurate,  and 
think  nothing  of  charging  others  with  falsehood  and  deception. 

Mr.  President,  I  have  said  that  the  Board  of  Directors  au- 
thorized tho  Executive  Committee  to  pay  damages  to  Messrs. 
Johnson  &  Zabriskie,  the  resolution  was  adopted  on  the  motion 
of  Mr.  "NVilson  G.  Hunt,  at  the  meeting  of  the  board  held  on 
2d  January,  1860. 

Tho  resolution  reads  as  follows  : — 

^^Jiesolvedf  That  the  matter  of  diflerence  between  the  Amer- 
ciated Press  from  SackTille  to  New  York,  until  it  hnd  received  the  measages  of 
D.  H.  Craig,  brought  from  Halifax  to  Sackville,  a  diitance  of  136  milca,  fur  tho 
Aflsoc  Mted  Tress  of  New  York,  and  they  were  sued  for  this  wrong  and  damage, 
and  the  Board  of  Directors  referred  it  to  the  Executive  Cuminittee  to  settle  that 
claim.  The  Kxecutive  Committee,  being  advisnd  that  they  bad  no  defence,  paid 
the  amounts  which  the  unfortunate  agent  of  the  Associated  Press  outside  of  New- 
York,  had  expended  in  the  payment  fur  messages  at  Halifax  and  Sackville. 

"  J/r.  D.  D.  Field:  That  does  not  answer  uiy  question.  Uas  there  been  nny  de- 
cision in  Court  t 

"Mr.  RuistU :  No,  Sir.  I  just  said  that  there  had  been  a  suit  brought,  and  that 
it  was  referred  to  the  Executive  Committee  to  settle. 

"  Mr.  J).  D.  Field :  Then  it  is  not  true  that  •  they  have  Lad'  to  pay  money  ! 
They  have  chosen  to  pay  the  money  of  tlie  stockholders,  without,  I  say,  their  hav- 
ing a  particle  of  right,  fur  the  Secretary  knows  himself,  that  he  has,  over  and  over 
again,  told  me  that  he  was  defending  this  suit,  and  could  do  it  successfully. 

Mr.  Iiu$fell:  The  Secretary  has  never  said  anything  of  the  kind.  Uc  has  always 
insisted  that  it  was  an  illegal  act. 

"3fr.  I).  D.  Field:  One  question  more.  What  counsel  has  advised  the  Execu- 
tive Committee  that  they  ought  to  pay  it  f 

"  Mr.  liwftll ;  I  have.    I  am  the  legal  officer  of  the  Board. 

"Mr.  D.  D.  Field:  That  is,  you,  being  the  E.\ocutive  Committee,  have  been  ad- 
tiscd  by  yourself  that  you  ought  to  pay,  and  accordingly  you  pay." 

(That  remark  is  wholly  erroneous.  The  Bo'Jrd  was  advised  that  the  Company 
had  not  a  full  defence  to  the  actions,  and  the  Board  decided  to  settle  the  actions. 
The  amount  paid,  however,  was  much  less  than  the  amount  claimed,  which  was 
excessive.) 


I 


^;i 


i 


II 


I 

I 


■ill 


■i 


icnn  Telegraph  Company,  and  tlio  Xova  Scotia  Tc  Icgraph  Conj- 
pany  and  Mcs^ra.  Johnson  &  Zabriskie,  bo  referred  to  the  Kxo- 
cutivo  Connnittee,  with  power  to  arrange  tho  k-amo,  and  to  re- 
port at  tho  next  meeting  of  this  board." 

The  Execiitivo  Committee  settled  with  Messrs.  Johnson  i' 
Zabriskio  by  merely  paying  them  the  amount  they  had  paid  to 
tho  Kova  Scotia  Company  and  this  Company  for  messages 
which  became  useless  by  reason  of  tho  refusal  of  this  Company 
to  forward  them  from  Sackvilie.  "NVo  paid  nothing  to  Messrs. 
Johnson  &  Zabriskio  for  the  expense  incurred  by.tliem  in  tljo 
preparation  of  tho  messages  and  their  transmission  from  Eu- 
rope to  Halifax.  At  tho  samo  time  I  got  Messrs.  Johnson  & 
Zabriskio  to  agree  to  a  settlement  on  tho  samo  basis  with  tho 
trustees  of  tho  old  American  Company,  and  tho  New  York 
and  Washington  Printing  Telegi-aph  Company.  Tho  amount 
thus  paid  by  tho  new  company  was  $9G2  OS,  the  amount  to  bo 
paid  by  tho  trustees  by  tho  above-mentioned  arrangement 
is  about  two  thousand  dollars. 

Mr.  Dudley  D.   Field   charges  tho  Executive  Comtnittco 
with  having  put  forth   a  falsehood    in   their  pamphlet,  be- chirge* tg^l 
cause  they  say  (pago  24,  note)  rcfu'riiig  to  the  stoppage  of  the of*he Kxec*. 
messages  of  Johnson  &;  Zabriskio  at  Sackvilie,  "The  American    '  ue.""  ' 
Telegraph  Company  has  been  sued  for  this  violation  of  tho  law, 
and  has  had  to  pay  damages." 

Is  it  not,  sir,  perfectly  correct  to  say  that  one  has  had  to  pay 
a  sum  of  money  when  it  has  been  demanded  of  him,  and  tho 
rightfulness  of  the  demand  has  been  admitted,  and  tho  amount 
pa-\ .  If  a  trial  had  been  had  and  a  judgment  rendered  against 
tlio  Company,  the  Executive  Committee  would  of  course  have 
mentioned  the  fact  ]3ut  tho  Board  of  Directors  fVA  no"  clooso 
to  stand  a  trial,  they  believed  that  the  law  had  boen  • '';^;.''ed, 
and  they  were  very  glad  to  get  tho  settlement  Wi'.li  Johnson  <k 
Zabriskio.  A  jury  might  not  have  let  us  off  so  easy,  but  might 
have  mulcted  us  in  heavy  camngcs. 


1 


I  mu&t;  1,..;*?  explain  ^''tlt  tlie  orders  of  tho  president  of  the  why  thane* 
old  Amr'cDK  Company  to  stop  the  messages  of  Johnson  &  Zu-S^cTSn"' 
brisklc  a'c  Snc'rvIUe,  conliuucd  as  a  matter  of  course  to  be  en- 


the  old 

coun«. 


Mr.  D.  D. 

ritld'a  crIU. 
•Itn  en  lh« 
Scertiarjr't 
wiat  of  hu- 
■JUlj. 


Id. 

lUt 
CU- 
dII- 


forccd  until  tlio  now  boanl  shoulJ  onlaln  a  difiorcnt  state  of 
tltin^.  In  tl»e  multiuJo  of  matters  to  bo  attondcil  to  just  after 
the  uc  '  urbanization,  this  particular  subject  was  not  cou-'lcrod 
to  bo  onu  of  paramount  importance,  ami  at  tli*  instuoco  of 
Messrs.  TTunt,  IV  Id,  and  Ilcwilt  action  u[>('n  it  wa*  |>o3tpoued 
for  ft  short  tlnio,  it  being  understood  tliat  the  icliolu  difficulty 
would  bo  removed  in  the  course  of  a  few  day*,  by  the  termina- 
tion of  the  contract  between  iU^  Xovu  Sc(  ia  Telc^'raph  Com- 
pany and  Mc^c^rs.  Johnson  &  Zabusklo. 

I  desire  to  say  a  fow  wordi  in  reply  to  Mr.  Dudley  1  >.  1     Id'd 
remarks  upon  tho  touo  and  style  whici  he  expects  from  *'ic  i>«. 
tary  whci»  ho  is  responding  to  any  i^uostiou  that  may  i.    i>iii  . 
him  at  this  meeting.  According  to  Mr.  Dudley  D.  Field  hu  m  lity 
befits  tho  Secretary,  he  being  a  mere  servant  of  t'le  com   any. 
I  spcalc,  sir,  as  a  Director,  as  one  of  flie  Executive      onun   'eo, 
and  as  tho  ownor  af  a  largo  amount  of  stock.    As  for  tho  oi2ce 
of  secretary  I  caro  nothing  about   t,  and  only  undertook  to  jxer 
form  tho  duties  temporarily  until  i  le  afrairs  of  the  new  org.i 
zatioD  could  be  reduced  to  order. 

I  readily  acknowledge  the  right  (  f  any  stockholder,  tho'  h. 
may  hold  only  a  single  share,  to  crii  ciso  my  acts  as  one  of  tht 
Executive  Committee,  but  it  verges  upon  tho  ridiculous  for  a 
inon  having  or  representing  a  compaatively  small  interest  to 
get  up  and  undertake  to  snub  one  holdiug  threo  timoo  as  much. 


new 

ny 
III 

Id 


^niM*oo?  ^  SO®  here,  sir,  somo  geutlemen  connected  with  tho  "Western 
tornia'nu'.'^^'on  Telegraph  Company,  acting  with  the  party  opposed  to 
•'•*''••  tho  nmjority  of  tho  Board  of  Directors  of  this  Company.  That 
may  bo  accounted  for  by  tho  fiict  that  the  Western  Union  Com- 
pany is  very  desirous  of  having  a  telegra^  !i  line  built  to  Cali- 
fornia  upon  a  certain  route,  a  largo  part  of  which  runs  through 
tho  territory  allotted  to  that  company  by  tho  six  party  contract. 
A  majority  of  tho  Kxccntive  Committee  of  this  company  wanted 
a  lino  upon  another  route  (the  Southern)  provided  for  by  Con- 
gress, in  addition  to  that  favored,  by  tho  Western  Union  Com- 
pany, and  therefore  opposed  the  bill  for  the  establishment  of 
the  latter  lino  alone.  In  so  doing  they  have  given  ofTeuco  to 
the  "Western  Union  Company,  and  I  have  no  doubt  that  the 


'  1; 


i  1 


S8 


I 


11 1 


president  and  some  of  the  directors  of  that  company  would,  for 
that  reason,  like  to  see  a  change  in  the  government  of  our 
company.  In  fact  the  gentlemen  to  whom  I  liave  just  referred 
would,  for  various  reasons  which  I  cannot  stop  now  to  explain, 
prefer  to  have  the  affairs  of  this  company  managed  by  certain 
directors  of  the  old  American  Telegraph  Company,  viz.,  Messrs. 
Hunt,  Field  &  IIovNritt,  rather  than  by  gentlemen  who  are  con- 
nected with  the  Magnetic  and  other  Companies  now  in  the  con- 
solidation. And  Mr.  Craig  can  act  cordially  with  the  "Western 
Union  Company,  for  ho  wants  a  monopoly  of  the  telegraph 
news  between  the  Atlantic  and  Pacific — which  monopoly  would 
be  endangered  by  the  existence  of  the  different  lines  on  differ- 
ent routes  between  those  points. 


Mr.  Craig  demands  the  expulsion  of  the  Executive  Com- 


mittee and  the  appointment  of  others  in  his  interest.     He  pub-^'n^^""*"'^* 


Mr.  Craig, 
demandi 
[  bii  e  0  1- 

lishes  an  abusive  pamphlet  attacking  all  the  members  of  the    '"s^**- 
board  who  had  opposed  his  views ;  iie  assails  them  with  the 
grossest  epithets,  and  this  scurrilous  pamphlet  is  sent  round  to 
all  the  stockholders,  a  list  having  been  obtained  for  that  pur- 
pose through  Mr.  Cyrus  AY.  Field. 

It  is  true  that  Mr.  Hewitt,  one  of  our  assailants,  depreca'.es 
the  tone  and  style  of  this  pamphlet,  but  he  docs  not  oppose  the 
demand  that  the  Executive  Committee  shall  be  removed,  on 
the  contrary  he  proposes  that  we  shall  enter  upon  a  career  of 
submission  to  the  truculent  agent  of  tlie  New  York  xVssociatlon, 
well  knowing:  that  the  inevitable  result  would  be  the  transfer  of 
the  management  of  the  affairs  of  the  Company  to  his  supporters 
in  the  Board. 

In  that  event  mo  may  see  Mr.  Cyrus  "\V.  Field,  Fresident, 
Mr.  AVilsou  G.  Hunt,  Treasurer,  Mr.  Abram  S.  Hewitt,  Vice- 
President,  Mr.  Dudley  D.  Field,  Counsel  of  the  Company,  and 
the  first  three  named  gentlemen  the  Executive  Committee. 

^Moreover,  the  control  of  this  company  may  be  a  matter  of 
considerable  importance  to  ambitious  Xew  York  politicians, 
Tammany  Hall  leaders,  and  candidates  for  posts  of  distinction. 

I  have  further  to  state,  sir,  that,  as  a  large  stockholder,  I  have 
great  objections  to  placing  the  control  of  this  Company  in  the 


M- 


2^ 


hands  of  gentlemen  who  have  but  little  interest  in  this  com- 
pany and  largo  interests  in  tlie  Xewfoundland  line.  A  consoli- 
dation of  that  lino  with  the  lines  of  this  Companj',  on  terms  too 
favorable  to  the  former,  might  be  eflected,  or  contracts  might 
be  entered  into  between  the  Companies  detrimental  to  my  in- 
terests. I  do  not  wish  to  impute  base  motives  to  all  of  those 
gentlemen,  however  some  of  them  may  abuse  and  vilify  me, 
and  however  outrageous  may  be  their  conduct  in  relation  to  the 
aflfairs  of  this  Company,  but,  I  do  mean  to  say  that  I  do  not 
want  men  to  act  as  my  trustees  whose  interests  in  relation  to 
the  affiiirs  of  this  Company  are  opposed  to  mine. 

I  cannot,  sir,  separate  Mr.  Craig  from  his  friends  and  sup- 
porters, Messrs.  Field,  Hunt,  and  llewitt,  for  I  find  them  acting 
together,  using  the  same  arguments,  and,  in  point  of  style  or 
veracity,  I  do  not  see  much  difi'erencc  between  Mr.  Craig  and 
Mr.  Cyrus  W.  Field. 


Public  dii-  Sir,  this  public  discussion  has  been  forced  upon  us  contrary 
AOTid*  hl°eto  the  wishes  of  a  largo  majority  of  the  stockholders.  I  wish, 
""""teJ?""  sir,  that  Mr.  Kendall  had  not  submitted  to  the  clainor  of  the 
faction  appealing  from  the  Board  to  the  stockholders.  AVe 
could  soon  have  put  to  the  test  tiie  bold  threats  of  Mr.  Dudley 
D.  Field  that  whatever  might  be  the  wislies  of  tlio  majority  of 
the  stockholders  he  would  have  a  public  discussion  of  the  aflairs 
of  the  company.  That  gentleman  told  us  tliat  if  Mr.  Cambridge 
Livingston's  resolution  should  be  carried,  ho,  Mr.  D.  D.  Field, 
and  his  party  would  disregard  it  and  would  carry  out  their  pro- 
gramme by  force.  That  is  all  of  a  piece,  sir,  with  the  first 
manceuvre, — the  attempt  to  seize  the  chair.  I  should  have 
liked  to  see  ^^[r.  D.  1).  Field  try  to  carry  out  his  threat.  I  do 
not  think  he  would  have  succeeded. 
objeeti  ^  ^^^^  divine  two  objects  of  tlic  directors  who  persist  in  pub- 
»^j»^opposi.lishing  statements  to  tlie  effect  that  tlic  property  of  this  com- 
pany is  not  wortli  more  than  tlie  amount  of  its  debt,  iiicurred  in 
the  purchase  of  a  small  part  of  the  property  of  the  Company 
from  Mr.  F.  O.  J.  Smith.  One  object  probably  is  that  the 
stockholders  may  bo  induced  to  put  the  property  under  the 
charge  of  those  who  intimate  that  tliey  can  obtain  the  friendly 
aid  of  D.  II,  Craig.     And  it  may  be  supposed  that  many  of  the 


25 


stockholders  may  bo  induced  to  soil  out  their  stock  at  a  low 
price. 

A  short  time  ago,  sir,  it  was  given  out  that  Messrs.  Hunt, 
Field,  and  Hewitt,  and  their  friends,  Peter  Cooper,  D.  II.  Craig, 
and  others  desired  to  sell  their  stock,  and  that  2,000  shares  could 
be  bouglit  for  85  cents  on  the  dollar.  But  a  party  who  applied 
to  Mr.  Cyrus  "W.  Field,  expecting  to  get  the  stock  at  that  rate, 
^vas  told  that  the  price  was  100  cents  on  the  dollar  for  the  2,000 
shares,  all  the  talk  about  selling  at  85  was  merely  to  keep  down 
the  price  of  the  stock.  The  same  party  was  opposed  to  our 
making  quarterly  di^-idends  of  three  per  cent.  They  preferred 
lower  dividends.  The  object  of  all  tlieso  movements  may  be 
readily  guessed  at. 

Mr.  Hewitt  has  read  a  printed  address  to  this  meeting  signed  j^^^j^^  ^^ 
by  himself,  Mr.  AVilson  G.  Hunt,  and  Mr.  Cyrus  ^Y.  Field.  ^5££'';'/^'^i 
That  address,  sir,  is  full  of  errors,  mistatetnents,  and  false  reas-''i'^','"j,"*'*' 
oning,  and  I  propose  to  review  it. 

The  first  statement  made  by  Messrs.  Hunt,  Field,  and 
Hewitt,  is  that  when  the  consolidation  was  effected  it  seemed 
that  the  afluirs  of  the  company  "  .vere  placed  on  a  basis  of  en- 
during prosperity,  which,  with  proper  management,  no  adverse 
circumstances  could  disturb." 

To  whom  did  it  seem  so?  It  was  well  known  by  those  who 
were  acquainted  with  the  telegraph  business,  and  wlio  had  p^tio'n 
brought  about  this  consolidation,  that  the  question  whether 'p*,"p'J'i,y".f 
"cyic?wmi<7  prosperity"  could  be  secured  depended  upon  various 
circutnstances  of  a  somewhat  doubtful  character.  And  althouirh 
I  for  one  believed  that  "  enduring  prosperity"  might  be  secured 
by  that  "  proper  management"  whicli  is  opposed  by  the  gentle- 
men who  stopped  the  messages  at  Sackvillc,  I  knew  tliat  under 
what  they  call  "  proper  management"  the  prosperity  of  the  com- 
pany would  not  endure  more  tlian  a  year  or  two,  and  probably 
not  so  long  even  as  that. 

I  hoped  and  believed,  sir,  that  they  would  not  obtain  the 
management  of  the  affairs  of  the  comjiany,  and  therefore  I  ex- 
pected tliat  the  company  would  become  and  remain  prosperous^ 
i>ut  I  could  not  conceal  from  myself  the  fact  that  there  was 


The  antlct* 
of 


■j1 


20 

danger — that  those  gentlemen,  although  having  but  three  votes 
in  the  Board,  and  owning  hut  little  stock  amongst  them,  might, 
by  tlio  powerful  aid  of  the  Xew  York  press  and  their  agent, 
succeed  in  obtaining  the  control  of  the  company  for  themselves 
and  their  party. 

I  was  hopeful  as  to  the  fruits  of  the  consolidation — many  oth-. 
ers  were  not  so — many  of  the  stockliolders  of  the  Magnetic 
Telegraph  Company  preferred  selling  their  stock  to  taking  the 
stock  of  the  new  company.  Tiiey  liad  been  assured  by  an 
indiscreet  gentleman  assuming  to  speak  for  certain  parties  favor- 
ing the  project  of  consolidation,  that  tliey  would  purchase  all 
'  the  stock  of  the  Magnetic  Company  held  by  parties  who  might 

decline  to  come  into  the  new  company.  The  principal  stock- 
holders of  the  Magnetic  Company  soon  found  that  this  assur- 
ance was  unfounded,  and  abandoned  the  idea  of  selling,  but 
others  insisted  upon  the  fulfilment  of  the  promise,  and  it  became 
necessary  to  subscribe  ninety  thousand  dollars  to  purchase  the 
stock  in  question.  At  the  last  moment  the  amount  subscribed 
fell  short  twenty  thousand  dollars,  and  I  hac^  to  make  up  the 
deficiency,  for  no  one  else  would.  I  may  here  add  that  the 
subscriptions  of  Mr.  Peter  Coo})cr  and  Mr.  Wilson  G.  Hunt 
were  $10,000  each.    My  subscription  wa^  $L'5,000. 

Alleged  ob.  Mcssi*8.  Iluut,  Field,  and  Hewitt  state,  in  the  second  place, 
^cocsoiida'*  that  "this  consolidation  could  never  have  been  eflected  but 
"°°"  from  the  general  conviction  in  the  minds  of  the  proprietors  of 
the  lines,  and  of  the  public  by  whose  business  the  lines  were 
sustained,  that  the  great  saving  in  the  expense  of  operating  and 
maintaining  them  under  one  management,  would  enable  the 
united  company  to  ofi'er  to  the  public  greater  facilities  in  the 
transmission  of  intelligence,  and,  in  the  course  of  time,  at  re- 
duced rates." 

I  do  not  believe,  sir,  that  the  objects  of  the  parties  who 
eflected  the  consolidation  are  correctly  stated  in  tlie  paragraph 
quoted.  The  leading  object  was  not  to  offer  the  public  greater 
facilities  nor  reduced  rates,  although  I  believe  that  those  results 
will  follow  at  no  distant  }>criod.  The  great  object  of  myself 
and  my  colleagues  was  to  acquire  the  strength  necessary  to 
prevent  competition,  which  we  feared  might  arise  after  the  ex- 
piration of  the  patents  granted  to  Prof.  Morse. 


27 


Messrs.   Hunt,   Field,   and  Hewitt  state  that  the  directors  The  diTHend 


made,  and 


have  been  enabled  "to  make  quarterly  dividends  of  threa  perreierred 
cent.,  besides  laying  by  a  considerable  amount  for  the  construc- 
tion of  new  lines  and  the  discharge  of  the  debt  incurred  in  buy- 
ing out  the  interest  of  Mr.  F.  O.  J.  Smith  in  tlie  lines  and  pa- 
tents." 

That  statement  is  incorrect. 

In  making  the  dividends  of  three  per  cent,  no  fund  is  re- 
served for  the  construction  of  new  lines  or  the  discharge  of  the 
debt  referred  to,  it  having  been  resolved  by  the  Board  to  isssuo 
btock  to  raise  the  funds  necessary  for  those  purposes.  \ 

Messrs.  Field,  Hunt,  and  Hewitt  appear  to  be  very  desir- 
ous of  depreciating  the  stock,  but  I  must  say  that  they  are  not 
correct  in  their  remarks  about  the  sales  of  the  stock.  I  know '"^y^I^'  *' 
of  a  good  many  sales  at  par  and  upv/ards.  In  fiict  there  has 
been  no  fixed  price  for  the  stock,  some  parties  believing  that  the 
company  will  be  able  to  keep  a  monopoly  of  the  business  and 
others  that  the  monopoly  depending  on  the  caprice  of  D.  II. 
Craig  will  be  soon  broken  up. 

Messrs.  Hunt,  Field  and  Hewitt  state  that  they  consider 
that  *'  it  is  remarka1)le  that  the  stock  of  the  Company  has 
steadly  sold  below  par;"  and  they  draw  a  contrast  "  with  the  b^e°™fe"'a". 
market  value  of  the  stock  of  other  companies  earning  much  '"gtockj." 
less  in  amount  and  declaring  the  same  rate  of  dividends."  They 
tell  us  that  "the  attention  of  the  observiiicr  shareholder  is 
arrested  by  this  comparison,"  and  tliat  an  e.vimination  of  the 
causes  of  the  unfavorable  comparison  is  called  for.  Tlicy  hold 
that  it  is  the  "plain  dut^'  of  every  Director  of  the  Company" 
to  raise  the  market  value  of  the  stock  to  175  at  least.    Thev 

m 

say :  "  If  the  capitalist  v/ere  reasonably  sure  that  the  earnings 
of  the  Company  could  be  maintained  at  the  present  rate,  Mith- 
out  prospect  even  of  any  increase,  the  market  value  of  the 
stock  ought  to  range  between  175  and  200.  To  insure  tliis 
value  is  tlio  obvious  interest  of  every  stockholder,  and  the  I'luin 
chiiu  of  every  Director  of  the  Company." 

Jiut,  a  little  further  on,  these  gentlemen  make  some  state- 
ments of  what  they  assert  to  bo  matters  of  fact,  and  present 


28 


arguments  wliicli,  if  correct,  would  at  once  (lispcnso  with  any 
**  examination  of  tlio  causes  of  the  unfavoruLle  comparison  "  to 
which  they  have  directed  our  attention,  r^d  wouhl  dispel  all 
hopes  that  tho  Directors  would  ever  perform  their  "  plain  duty" 
of  raising  tho  value  of  tho  stock  to  tho  desired  level,  the 
"range  between  175  and  200." 

I  quote,  sir,  the  following  passage  from  tlio  manifesto  of  the 
three  gentlemen  :  "  The  American  Telegraph  Company  has  a 
capital  of  about  $1,500,000,  and  a  debt  of  about  §200,000.  It 
ownes  the  lines  between  Boston  and  'V\''ashington,  some  local 
lines  in  New  York  and  Virginia,  but  it  leases  the  lines  east  of 
Boston  and  south  of  "Washington,  so  that  the  bulk  of  this  great 
capital  and  debt  represents  tho  lines  between  Boston  and  "Wash- 
ington." 

Can  you,  sir,  or  any  man  who  has  heard  or  read  that  passage, 
believe  that  these  three  gentlemen  were  serious  when  they 
talked  about  the  attention  of  the  observing  stockholder  being 
arrested  by  tho  remarkable  fact  that  telegraph  stock,  which  had 
paid  six  per  cent,  in  six  months,  had  not  ranged  in  the  market 
"  between  175  and  200  ?"  Why,  sir,  according  to  tlicsc  gentle- 
men, the  stock  is  not  worth  ten  cents  on  the  dollar,  for  its  value 
Probable  re.  ^^  dependent  entirely  upon  the  will  and  pleasure,  whim  or 
•alts  of  man.  caprice  of  D.  II.  Craiij,  the  acrent  of  the  Xew  York  Associated 

•gemeot  of         *^  oj  o 

by*craT'*and  I^^'^ss,  wlio  may,  by  getting  up  an  opposition  to  u<,  destroy  tho 
bu  friendj.  yai^io  ^f  quv  property.  Oh,  say  these  gentlemen,  if  you  will 
let  us  and  our  friend  Craig  manage  the  Company,  he  will  not 
get  up  an  opposition,  and  v/e  shall  have  a  telegraph  millenium. 
How  long  would  it  last?  What  men  are  there  to  be  found  who 
would  submit  to  his  tyranny  and  abuse  ;  and  svhy  should  not 
he,  a  year  hence,  when  the  first  Moi-sc  patent  ex[)irc'S,  take  up 
some  now  invention  along  with  Messrs.  Hunt,  FiclJ,  and  Hew- 
itt, or  others,  build  a  lino  from  Boston  to  Washington,  and,  by 
his  control  of  all  the  press  news  of  the  country,  force  our  col- 
leagues in  tho  North  American  Telegraph  Confideration  to 
desert  us  and  connect  with  his  lines  ?  If  Mr.  Craig  be  allowed 
to  monopolize  all  tho  news  sent  by  telegraph,  ho  may  take  it 
into  his  head  that  he  and  his  friends  uiav  as  well  force  a  sale  of 
the  lines  of  tho  American  Telegraph  Company  to  a  new  com- 
,         pany  to  be  under  his  control.    Messrs.  Hunt,  Field,  and  Hewitt, 


i 


J. 


29 


and  their  immediate  friends,  miglit  be  taken  caro  of  in  that 
aiTangement,  '.vhilo  the  rest  of  the  stockholders  would  lose  every 
thing. 

In  my  opinion  our  only  safe  course  is  to  use  the  strength  wo 
have  to  put  an  end  to  the  system  whereby  all  the  press  news  is 
controlled  by  one  person. 

The  consolidation  would  never  have  been  effected  but  for  the 
belief,  entertained  by  myself  and  others,  that  we  could  destroy 
that  monoply. 

Have  these  three  gentlemen,  Messrs.  Hunt,  Field,  and  Hew- 
itt, confidence  enough  lu  their  own  theory  to  purchase  a  majority 
of  the  stock  at  the  price  which  they  have  themselves  figured 
out.  They  hold  that  the  Company  lias  nothing  to  do  but  to 
pacify  T>.  H.  Craig ;  and  they  evidently  consider  that  this  should 
be  done  at  once,  by  throwing  overboard  the  majority  of  the 
Board  and  the  Executive  Committee. 

My  opinion  is,  sir,  that  in  the  new  rc'jlmc  Mr.  Hewitt  would 
soon  find  himself  imable  to  bear  up  against  the  insolence  and 
abuse  of  that  hard  task-master,  Mr.  Craig.  I  doubt  whether 
even  Mr.  Cyrus  AV.  Field  woulu  not  try  to  get  up  a  conspiracy 
against  the  great  autocrat,  and  tlius  force  what  Messrs.  Hunt, 
Field,  and  Hewitt  mngniloquently  call  "  tlie  newspaper  press," 
into  "an  attitude  of  hostility"  to  the  Company.  All  the  sacrifices 
to  pacify  Mr.  Craig  would  be  found  unavailing.  It  is  true,  he 
might  not  quarrel  with  his  old  colleaguo,  Mr.  Wilson  G.  Hunt. 
Indeed,  unless  I  am  much  misinformed  on  the  subject,  there 
are  divers  substantial  reasons .  why  those  two  gentlemen  will 
remain  in  perfect  accord  with  each  other. 

But  the  affairs  of  the  company  cannot,  under  the  charter,  bo 
managed  by  Mr.  Hunt  and  !Mr.  Craig  alone  ;  tliero  must  be  a 
Board  of  Directors,  and  they  would  doubtless  prove  restive. 

This  point  is  well  stated  in  the  address  of  the  Ex.  Com.,  on  p. 
27,  in  these  words  ; 

"  It  is  true  that  this  compar.y  miglit,  by  abject  submission  to 
the  dictates  of  the  polite  and  gcntloinauly  ."gent  of  the  Xew 
York  monopoly,  manage  to  keep  him  in  good  humor  for  a  few 
months,  weeks,  or  days — might,  by  expelling  the  Executive 
Comnjiitce,  and  appointing  his  nominees  in  their  place,  avert 


30 


the  threatened  action  of  the  Xcw  York  monopoly  against  the 
company  for  a  brief  period ;  but  then,  wo  sliouhl  hohl  our  prop- 
erty by  the  frail  tenure  of  the  mere  good  will  of  D.  II.  Craig, 
and  our  dividends  would  not  be  worth  a  single  year's  purdiase." 

Messrs.  Hunt,  Field,  and  Hewitt,  in  the  next  place,  pro- 
ceed to  assume  that  a  great  deal  of  trouble  has  been  occasioned 
by  alterations  in  the  tariff  on  press  messages — that  the  business 
paid  well  enough,  and  should  have  been  let  alone.  Xow,  sir, 
all  this  is  mero  delusion.  Tlie  question  is  not  about  tariffs, 
of  ih»  AMo-Tho  Associated  Press  are  willing  to  pay  three  times  as  much 

eUtedPreM  ,  .  ..  mi         i  i 

toptjhijheras  they  do  now  if  wo  will  only  agree  not  to  take  active  measures 
to  break  up  the  present  system,  whereby  only  one  foreign  dis- 
patch is  allowed  to  be  received  for  the  whole  country. 

I  will  here  notice  an  error  into  which  a  gentleman  represent- 
ing one  of  the  Boston  newspapers — 3Ir.  Halo — has  fallen  in  tho 
course  of  his  address  to  this  meeting. 

That  gentleman  has  told  you  that  tho  Boston  papers  have 
paid  double  the  price  paid  by  private  individuals.  The  pam- 
"remfr's**  P^^^^^  published  by  the  Executive  Committee,  p.  5,  shows  v.hat 
the  Boston  papers  pay  for  messages  from  Boston  to  Xew  York 
and  from  Xew  York  to  Boston,  viz.,  for  the  first  500  words 
three  cents  a  word,  from  500  to  1,000  two  cents  a  word,  over 
l/)00  one  cent  a  word. 

Now,  tliis  reduction  in  favor  of  long  messages  is  made  solely 
with  a  view  to  tho  benefit  of  tho  pre^s,  because  practically  it 
is  tho  press  alone  that  derives  any  benefit  from  it.  A  message 
500  words  long  for  any  other  customer  than  the  press  is  a  thing 
that  has  scarcely  ever  been  heard  of.  In  reality,  tlien,  the  Bos- 
ton papers  pay  much  less  for  their  messages  than  the  ordwiary 
•    rates  charged  to  tho  conmiercial  jniblic. 

For  myself,  I  nmst  confess,  that  I  can  see  no  good  conmiercial, 
or  other  reason  why  any  deduction  should  be  ma<le  from  the  full 
charge  for  a  message  sent  to  the  Associated  Prc.^s,  although  I  can 
sec  good  reasons  for  making  a  deduction  in  favor  of  a  special 
press  message,  in  order  that  that  class  of  business  may  bo  in- 
creased. This  question  is  examined  in  the  address  of  tho 
Executive  Committee,  pp.  7  to  10,  p.  32,  and  p.  35.    Tho  com- 


I 


k  'I 


I 


31 


i 


■tt 


parlson  institntcfl  by  Mr.  Hale  between  a  message  sent  for  the 
whole  prcs^  of  Boston  and  one  sent  to  a  private  individual  is 
fullacions.  Tlio  former  on  account  of  its  great  public  import- 
ance is  allowed  priority  and  therefore  full  rates  ought  to  be  paid 
for  it,  especially  as  no  more  business  can  be  got  by  the  telegraph 
company  by  reducing  the  charge  for  an  Associated  Press  mes- 
sage ;  the  amount  to  be  paid  by  each  of  the  papers  taking  it  being 
so  small  that  oven  if  the  price  were  donblcd  the  message  in  ques- 
tion would  not  be  abbreviated  on  that  account  one  single  word. 

The  question  is  not  as  Mcsss^s.  Hunt,  Field,  and  Hewitt,  would 
represent  it  to  be,  viz.,  whether  we  shall  bo  content  with  our 
present  earnings,  and  thus  "  let  well  enough  alone,"  it  is  whe- 
ther we  shall  endeavor  to  get  the  control  of  our  own  business, 
or  let  a  huge  monopoly  bo  built  up,  which  will  inevitably  destroy 
our  property.  The  question  as  to  the  rates  to  be  charged  for 
press  messages  is  comparatively  insignificant,  but,  if  from  fear  ^^  ^^^^ 
of  oflending  the  Xew  York  Association,  we  let  them  dictate  to  "»"""<"»• 
us  the  rates  to  be  paid,  it  follows  that  from  the  like  fear  we 
shall  refrain  from  taking  those  measures  .vhich  arc  necessary  to 
destroy  the  monopoly  of  the  foreign  news  enjoyed  by  that  associ- 
ation. I  have  often  declared  that,  in  my  opinion,  that  monopoly 
must  be  broken  up,  and  that  I  believed  that  means  wpuld  be 
found  to  accomplish  the  result.  This  declaration,  sir,  is  but  tho 
echo  of  tho  covenant  which  our  company  entered  into  on  tho 
12th  Octcber  last  with  tho  principal  stockholders  of  the  Mag- 
netic Telegraph  Company,  an  extract  from  which  may  be  found 
in  the  pamphlet  of  tho  Executive  Committee,  p.  25. 

We  have  thereby  covenanted  tliat  we  will  "  i(se  all  leglilmatc 
means  to  -prevent  i/ionoj^olics  of  marlcct  and  other  ncics  entering 
the  United  States  from  foreign,  countries^ 

Messrs.  Hewitt,  Field,  and  Hunt  speak  on  this  subject  as  fol- 
lows : 

"The  riglit  to  combine  to  procure  intelligence  is  as  sacred  as 
tlie  right  of  the  stockholders  of  this  company  to  associate  tlicm- 
selvcs  together  to  build  and  operate  telegraph  lines.'' 

I  am  not  aware,  sir,  of  any  right — divine,  sacred,  or  otlicr- 
wisG — to  combine  to  procure  iutclligenco  to  the  exclusion  of 
other  parties.     And  I  propose,  sir,  that  wc  shall  destroy  that 


ik 


S3 

feature  of  exclusion,  because  it  is  prejudicial  to  our  Interests 
and  to  tlioso  of  the  community. 

Mes3r3.  Hunt,  Field,  and  llowitt,  contend  that  wo  have  no 
right  to  resort  to  any  moans  to  prev«^>it  the  monopoly  in  ques- 
tion, any  more  than  wo  have  to  h\  ^  up  a  private  firm,  in 
order  that  each  partner  may  bo  made  to  pay  separately  for  the 
dispatches  which  would  come  to  all  in  common. 

These  are  the  geutlemeu  w  ho  resorted  to  the  strongest  kind  of 
measures  to  preserve  the  monopoly  of  the  Xcw  York  Associa- 
tion. Now,  sir,  it  is  a  suflScient  answer  to  this  objection  to  say 
that  if  wo  had  refused  to  covenant  to  dj  what  tiiey  say  wo  have 
no  right  to  do,  the  consolidation  would  never  have  taken  place.' 
I  mr.y  add,  sir,  that  Messrs.  C.  W.  Field  and  A.  S.  Hewitt 
signed  that  covenant. 

"We  have  covenanted  to  use  all  legitimate  means  to  prevent 
the  monopoly  of  the  foreign  news.  One  proper  way  to  do  so 
i"  to  invite  competition,  to  point  out  how  the  foreign  news  can 
be  obtained,  to  aid,  by  our  advice  and  counsel,  the  newspaper 
press  all  over  tlie  country. 

Messrs.  Hunt,  Field,  and  Hewitt  are  the  gentlcnica  who, 
controlling  the  old  American  Telegraph  Company,  broke  down 
a  rival  press  agent,  by  refusing  to  send  his  messages.  Naturally 
enough,  the  agent  of  the  New  York  xVssociated  Press  wants 
these  gentlemen  to  have  the  control  of  this  company,  because 
ho  knows  that  they  will  not  "  use  all  legitimate  means,"  nor 
any  means  at  all,  to  prevent  his  monopoly.  In  fact,  they  de- 
clare that  such  efforts  would  be  officious  intermeddling,  improi^er 
and  unjust. 

They  say,  however,  that  they  are  perfectly  willing  to  offer 
all  ])Oss[h\Q  facilities Jvr  competition ^  but  contend  that  the  con- 
tract with  the  stockholders  of  the  Magnetic  Company  docs  not 
require  us  to  take  any  active  measures  to  prevent  the  monopoly 
in  (Question,  and  that  tho  New  York  Associated  Press  will  take 
offence,  and  justly  so,  too,  if  wo  try  to  break  up  their  monopoly. 

It  is  well  known,  sir,  that,  unless  we  take  the  initiative,  the 
presi  outside  of  the  city  of  New  York  will  be  unable,  at  all 
events  for  a  considerable  time  to  come,  to  liberate  themselves 
from  the  yoke  of  Mr.  Craig.  Now,  Messrs.  Hunt,  Field,  and 
Hewitt  are  perfectly  willing  that  we  shall  do  anything  that  will 


I  mil ' 
*  iiti ' 


83 


tf 


;  I 


i; 


i 

i 

i 


•  1.. 


u 


bo  useless  for  tlio  accoinplislimcnt  of  tho  purpose  set  forth  in 
the  covenant  ^vll^cll  I  have  quoted.  Tliey  are  quite  willing,  for 
example,  that  we  should  have  two  wires  from  Halifax,  if  we  will 
do  nothing  to  get  two  customers  for  tho  use  of  them. 

I  have  no  doubt,  sir,  that  tho  New  York  Associated  Press  and 
their  agent  have  been  sorely  offended  by  our  covenant  to  use  all 
legitimate  means  to  prevent  them  from  continuing  to  enjoy  their 
monopoly.  I  dare  say  they  liad  a  copy  of  that  covenant  in 
October  last,  before  tho  ink  M'as  dry.  Tiio  parties  to  the  coven- 
ant assumed  that  tho  object  could  be  accomplished,  and  I  muin- 
•  tain,  sir,  that  tho  covenant  contemplates  action  on  the  part  of 
this  company  to  break  up  tho  monopoly.  It  was  treated  at  the 
time  as  an  open  declaration  of  war  against  the  New  York  Asso- 
ciated Press. 

Mr.  Raymond,  one  of  the  proprietors  of  the  New  York  Dail^ 
Times^  in  his  address  to  this  meeting,  has  said,  that  the  rates 
charged  to  the  New  Y'ork  Associated  Press  are  quite  immaterial. 
Ho  denies  that  any  objection  to  raising  tho  prices  would  be  made 
by  that  association. 

Mr.  Hewitt  has  declared  to-day  to  this  meeting  liiat  the  press 
(by  which  ho  moans  tho  Now  York  Associated  Press,)  care 
nothing  forr  atos — that  they  are  willing  to  paj'one  hundred  per 
cent,  or  three  hundred  per  cent,  increase,  if  this  company  will 
not  use  means  to  prevent  the  monopoly  of  the  foreign  news. 

What  right,  asks  !Mr.  Raymond,  has  the  company  to  build  up 
rivals  to  tho  Association?  And  he  adds  that  if  the  company 
for  its  own  interests  will  do  so,  then  the  Association  will,  in  its 
own  defence,  build  up  rivals  to  this  company. 

That  is  all  right — let  them  do  so  if  they  will  and  can.  We 
expected  them  to  ti'f/  when  we  entered  into  the  covenant  with 
tho  stockholders  of  the  Magnetic  Company.  But,  sir,  tliey  can- 
not succeed  now,  and  I  think  we  can,  by  active  measure?,  pre- 
vent thorn  from  controlling  our  property  at  their  pleasure  Iicrc- 
after. 

In  reply  to  the  remark  of  !Mr.  Raymond,  that  it  docs  not  be- 
come this  company  to  speak  against  the  monopoly  of  the  foreign 
news,  because  we  have  ourselves  a  monopoly,  I  beg  leave  to 
say  that  tho  interests  of  our  compai  y,  not  less  than  those  of  tho 


r 


t- 


public  at  large,  require  tlmt  thoftr  4toul(l  1  raoro  aoi  one 
telegraph  niessngo  containing  the  foreign  news  rocei\  i  bjr  tht 
newspaper  press  of  this  country. 

Messrs.  Hunt,  Field,  and  Hewitt  say  that  tho  memWrs  of  the 
New  York  Associated  Press  only  want  a  contract  with  il..,  coni- 
pany  for  a  term  of  years.  I  am  well  satisfied,  sir,  that  the  only 
effect  of  such  a  contract  would  bo  to  divert  us  from  our  object 
and  cause  us  to  loso  precious  time.  The  one  all-important  fact 
is,  sir,  that  unless  wo  can  break  up  the  system  whereby  tho  en- 
tire patronage  of  tho  press  dispatches  is  held  by  one  man,  our 
property  is  not  worth  twenty  cents  on  tlic  dollar,  but,  on  the 
other  hand,  if  wo  succeed  in  our  object,  every  share  of  the  stock 
will  bo  worth  a  great  deal  more  than  one  hundred  dollars. 

A  contract  with  tho  New  York  Associated  Press  would  bo  a 
mere  delusiou — it  could  be  broken  at  any  time  by  tho  associa- 
tion, on  the  pretence  that  tiio  business  was  not  done  as  well  as 
it  might  be. 

In  the  manifesto  of  Messrs.  Hunt,  Field,  and  Hewitt,  I  find 
this  passage  :  "  Tho  undersigned  have  at  all  times  been  opposed, 
and  still  remain  hostile  to  all  grants  of  sj)ccial  privileges  and 
preferential  claims  in  the  use  of  the  lines  of  the  Company." 

AVhy,  sir,  these  arc  the  very  gentlemen  who,  whether  they 
did  or  did  not  recognize  any  "  preferential  claims,"  in  tho  use 
of  tho  lines  of  tho  old  American  Company,  would  not  allow 
parties  to  use  those  lines  i  ;nd  Press  messages  from  Sackville 
to  New  York  in  opposition  to  D.  II.  Craig. 

ITiese  gentlemen  seem  very  fund  of  high  sounding  phrases 
and  glittering  generalities,  but  their  conduct  in  the  telegraph 
business  has  by  no  means  conformed  thereto. 


In  their  manifesto  it  is  stated  that  Mr.  Hewitt  had  an  inter- 
view with  me  in  which  I  declined  to  state  to  him  how  the  Exe- 
wbythe  Ex- cutive  Commiltco  intended  to  prevent  tiie  monopoly  of  foreign 
muueTincws.     I  did,  sir,  dccllne  to  lay  bcforc  him  tho  programme.     I 
ihei?'j)ian«did  not  want  any  of  tho  proposed  arrangements  to  be  com- 
Hewitt.  ■  mnnicated  to  Mr.  Craig,  because  he  might  be  able,  if  fully  ad- 
vised beforehand,  to  defeat  bome  of  tliem.     I  had  no  confidence 
whatever  in  Mr.  Hewitt.     He  had  shown   himself  to  be  a 


M 


thorougli  out  nnd  out  pftrtlsan  of  ^Ir.  Craig,  by  stopping  tlic 
mcssngos  of  Jolnison  niid  Zabriskio  at  Suckvillo.  Mr.  Hewitt 
had  moreover  factiously  opposed  the  Kxccutivo  Committee  on 
various  occasions,  and  had  broken  faith  with  mo  hy  retaining 
his  scat  at  the  I3oard  of  Directors. 


> 


:*. 


Mr.  ITowitt  errs  when  ho  says  that  I  told  him  that  the  policy 
of  the  Executive  Committee,  in  reference  to  tho  New  York 
Associated  Pross,  "  was  a  mystery."  Nor  is  ho  correct  in  an. 
other  part  of  his  statement  wherein  he  states,  that  that  policy 
was  boldly  avowed  to  be  "  that  tho  Now  York  Associated  Tress 
must  bo  broken  up,  and  that  means  would  be  found  to  accom- 
plish that  result." 

There  never  was  any  mystery  about  tho  policy  of  tho  Execu- 
tive Committee,  that  policy  was  plainly  declared,  and  ^Ir. 
Hewitt  has  not  correctly  stated  it.  It  was  to  break  up  that 
regulation  of  tho  New  York  Associated  Press  which  begets 
a  monopoly  of  tho  foreign  news,  and  confines  our  lines  to  a 
single  message  containing  such  news.  • 


w 


r. 


i; 


Mr.  Ilfwitt  is  not  correct  in  saying  that  I  told  him  substan- 
tially that  I  had  fully  explained  the  views  of  tho  Executive 
Commltteo  to  !Mr.  F.  O.  J.  Smith,  and  that  he  "  was  so  delighted 
with  them  that  ho  was  ready  to  exchange  his  bonds  for  stock." 
"NVhat  I  said  on  that  subject  was,  that  Mr.  F.  O.  J.  Smith  was 
satisfied  that  wo  could  prevent  tiie  monopoly  of  tho  foreign 
news  by  tho  legitimate  means  pointed  out  to  him,  and  that  ho 
would,  if  necessary,  exchange  his  bonds  for  stock,  if  that  policy 
should  bo  adopted  and  put  in  operation.  He  would  not  ex- 
change his  bonds  for  stock  if  the  control  of  the  Company  sliould 
pass  into  the  hands  of  !Mr.  Craig  and  his  three  supporters  in  the 
Board.  I  am  well  assured  that  3[r.  F.  O.  J.  Smith  would  not, 
in  that  event,  give  twenty  cents  on  tho  dollar  for  the  stock.  I 
know  that  I  would  not. 

Messrs.  Hunt,  Field,  and  Hewitt  ar^juo  that  our  patents  will 
not  prevent  the  cstabhslnncnt  of  rival  lines,  and  they  refer  to 
the  fact  that  Morse's  patents  did  not  prevent  the  establishment 
of  House  and  Hughes  lines.    House's  patent  was  for  a  new 


':tl 


ae 


process,  tlio  use  of  wliich  wni  dcciJcil  not  to  bo  an  infringe- 
ment of  Morse's  patent.  Ilu^^lies's  niacluno  was  a  mere  evasion 
of  House's,  atjJ  I  have  no  doubt  that  tlic  uso  of  llio  former 
would  have  been  restrained  by  injunction,  if  the  old  American 
Company  had  not  coalesced  with  tlio  House  Company  sliortly 
after  tho  commencement  of  the  uso  of  the  Hughes  machine 
upon  the  lino  between  New  York  and  Philadelphia,  for  which 
tho  American  Company  did  not  hold  a  grant  of  the  House 
patent.  It  will  bo  found  that  no  available  system  of  telegraph- 
ing can  bo  introduced  into  this  country  which  is  not  an  infringe- 
mfint  of  some  one  of  tho  patents  owned  and  controlled  by  tho 
American  Telegraph  Company. 


t  rijti'l 


^  ..  In  reference  to  the  oxclusivo  connections  which  our  Company 

lyContfML  liag  ^vith  the  other  Southwestern  and  >>  estern  lines  under  th 
compact  known  as  tho  six-paity  contract,  Messrs.  Hunt,  Fielu, 
and  Hewitt  quote  a  saying  of  mine,  that  tho  contract  is  ''  a  rope 
of  sand,"  which  cannot  be  relied  upon  wlicncvcr  it  may  suit  tho 
interests  of  the  contracting  parties  to  dissolve  of  it.  I  have  said 
80,  when  contending  that  it  should  be  made  more  binding,  and 
the  interests  of  tho  various  Companies  blended  more  together. 
Tho  Executive  Conniiittee,  in  their  address  to  the  stockiiolders, 
takes  up  this  topic  (page  2G),  and  say  : 

"  Of  course  there  will  bo  associations  for  the  supply  of  Press 
news,  but  what  tbis  Company  wai\ts  to  prevent  is  tho  monopoly 
of  tho  news  by  a  sinyle  association.  It  is  very  clear  that  if  wo 
remain  quiet,  and  allow  this  monopoly  to  go  on  increasing  in 
lijtreagth  from  day  to  day,  we  shall  soon  find  ourselves  dspeud- 
cvl  for  existence  on  tho  more  will  and  pleasure  of  the  agent  or 
nanagcr  of  the  news  monopolists. 

"If  any  single  individual  or  party  can  obtain  and  keep  tho 
monopoly  of  the  foreign  news,  he  or  they  will  be  able,  a  siiort 
time  hence  to  destry  tho  American  Telegrapli  Company.  It  is 
very  j)robablc  that  the  Western  Telegraph  Com[)anies  would 
not  offer  any  resistance  to  a  party  controlling  the  foreign  news, 
but  would,  if  required  so  to  do,  ^ive  all  their  business  to  lines 
designated  by  that  party." 


I 


87 


■■     ! 


!;•;' 


il. 


Those  passages,  sir,  wliicli  I  liave  just  quoted,  sliow  whero 
the  danger  lies,  and  how  to  avoid  it.  AVe  cannot  calculate  upon 
the  faithful  performance  of  the  covenants  of  the  six-party  con- 
tract, if  WQ  allow  the  consolidation  of  the  Telegraph  lines  along 
the  seaboard,  to  consolidate  the  monopoly  of  the  news  in  the 
hands  of  one  party.  Rather  must  we  use  the  consolidation,  as 
we  have  covenanted  to  do,  to  break  up  that  monopoly. 

Messrs.  Hunt,  Field,  and  Hewitt  contend  that  a  line  can  beA»toacom- 
built  between  Boston  and  Washington  for  $200,000 — to  be  worlc-P"''"?  '" 
ed  in  opposition  to  us — that  it  can  do  a  flourishing  business 
without  connections. 

To  all  this  I  reply,  that  a  rival  lino  between  Boston  and 
Washington  cannot  be  built  without  violating  our  patents — that 
we  hold  the  best  routes — and  that  the  line  in  question  would 
not  pay  half  its  expenses,  with  all  the  patronage  that  D.  H. 
Craig  could  bestow  on  it.  Tlie  Associated  Press  business  is  not 
worth  having,  and  Mr.  D.  II.  Craig  cannot  at  present  control 
the  special  press  messages.  He  may  be  willing  to  pay  four 
times  as  much  as  ho  does  now  for  Associated  I'ress  messages, 
but  even  then  the  rival  line  would  realize  but  little,  and  that 
little  for  only  a  short  time,  as  Mr.  Craig's  employers  would  soon 
get  tired  of  patronizing  a  one-horse  concern  that  could  not  do 
the  business  properly.  After  the  news  shall  have  been  pub- 
lished two  or  three  times  in  independent  papers  not  belonging 
to  the  association,  tho  whole  of  Mr.  Craig's  arrangements  will 
be  abandoned,  and  those  parties  whom  he  may  have  induced  to 
embark  in  the  enterprise  of  opposing  this  Company  will  be  left 
in  the  lurch. 

Tho  personal  liability  to  be  incurred  by  the  parties  who  might 
venture  to  infringe  our  patents,  will  prevent  Mr.  Craig  from 
carrying  out  his  threats,  lie  must  wait  for  a  year  or  so,  and  I 
propose  that  our  Company  shall  employ  that  interval  in  fortify- 
ing against  ^lim,  and  strengthening  the  confederation  of  tho 
various  Telegraph  Companies. 

I  am  compelled,  sir,  to  sspeuk  out,  because  if  I  failed  to  do  so, 
the  stockholders  might  be  deceived  by  tho  specious  statements 
and  reasoning  of  our  opponents.  But  I  know  that  the  majority 
of  the  Btockholders  will  not  ask  me  to  stato  publicly  all  tho 


'K-  ' 


88 


Value  of  the 

property    o  f 

this   Com- 

P»njr. 


:om- 
ioe, 
1  to 
ton. 


means  wo  intend  to  use  to  attain  our  object.  Nor  will  Mr. 
Hewitt's  taunts  induce  me  to  do  so.  In  f\\ct,  I  hold  that  there 
ought  not  to  be  any  public  discussion  of  tlieso  matters. 

Sir,  it  is  true,  as  stated  by  jVIessrs.  Hunt,  Field,  and  Hewitt, 
that  the  American  Telegraph  Company  has  a  capital  of  about 
a  million  and  a  half,  and  a  debt  of  about  two  hundred  thousand 
dollar.  And  I  maintain,  sir,  that  the  property  of  the  Com- 
pany is  worth  a  great  deal  more  tlian  those  two  sums  added 
together. 

The  reasoning  of  Mescrs.  Hunt,  Field,  and  Hewitt  is  entirely 
fallacious.  They  say  that  the  bulk  of  the  capital  of  this  com- 
pany and  its  debt  represents  the  lines  between  Boston  and 
Washington,  because  this  company  leases  the  lines  east  of  Bos- 
ton and  south  of  "Washington,  and  that  the  debt  of  this  com- 
pany is  nearly  or  quite  equal  to  the  actual  capital  required  to 
build  a  new  line  between  Boston  and  AVashington. 

I  regard  the  lines  between  Boston  and  "Washington  as  a  mere 
bagatelle  in  comparison  with  our  other  property.  But  I  need  not 
repeat  what  is  set  forth  in  the  printed  address  of  the  Executive 
Committee,  on  pages  21  and  22,  and  pages  33  to  30.  Suffice  it  to 
say  that  this  company  controls  uV  the  principal  lines  along  the 
seaboard,  and  has  exclusive  connections  witii  all  the  great  tele- 
graph companies  in  the  United  States  and  British  Provinces. 
The  company  has  a  great  and  lucrative  business,  and  is. well 
able  to  pay  the  rents  reserved  by  the  leases  of  the  various  lines 
east  of  Boston  and  south  of  "Washington.  Tlie  leases  and  the 
contracts  for  connections  are  worth  far  more  tlian  the  whole 
amount  of  the  capital  stock  and  debt  of  the  company. 

Messrs.  Hunt,  Field  and  Hewitt  say  they  do  not  make  their 
statements  to  alarm  the  stockholders  or  to  foment  opposition ; 
that  they  "might  have  sold  their  stock  and  retired  from  the 
company."  Two  of  them  did  once  sell  their  stock  and  they 
have  now  only  eighty-four  shares  between  them.  I  will  not 
say  that  they  did  make  these  statements  to  alarm  the  stock- 
holders and  foment  opposition — still  they  must  be  aware  of  the 
natural  consequences  of  their  own  acts. 


On  the  5th  page  of  the  address  of  the  Executive  Committee 
you  will  find  this  note :  "  It  is  understood  that  Mr.  C.  "W.  Field 


39 


I  ! 


is  perfectly  willing  to  have  tlic  editors  of  certain  newspapers  Mr.  c.  w 
appoint  five  of  the  directors,  as  demanded  in  the  comniunica- demand*  o*f 
tion  hereinafter  noticed."  piper  "pV 

I  was  told  so  by  Mr.  Hewitt,  in  my  office,  a  few  days  ago,  '  '*'"' 
and  Mr.  Morse  and  Mr.  Alden  were  both  present  and  heard  the 
remark.  Mr.  Hewitt  added  that  he  himself  considered  the  de- 
mand an  unreasonable  one.  I  am  not  at  all  surprised,  sir,  to  find 
that  flighty  gentleman,  Mr.  Cyrus  W.  Field,  putting  his  name 
to  a  paper  ridiculing  the  very  proposition  which  he  supported. 

lie  judged  from  his  own  loose  practice  in  making  and  pub- 
lishing statements,  that  our  president,  Mr.  Barnum,  had  put  his 
name  to  an  important  address  to  the  stockliolders  stating  his 
policy  as  president  of  tho  company,  without  reading  it.  Did 
Mr.  Cyrus  "W".  Field  put  his  name  to  Mr.  Hewitt's  "  singular 
production,"  without  reading  it,  or  was  Mr.  Cyrus  W.  Field 
perfectly  indifl'ercnt  whether  the  paper  represented  his  sentiments 
or  not,  so  long  as  it  would  answer  the  purpose  of  the  moment  ? 

In  that  paper,  I  find  this  passage  : 


lif 


"As  to  the  propriety  and  reasonableness  of  this  letter,  there 
is  considerable  ditferenco  of  opinion.  If  the  Telegraph  Com- 
pany were  to  demand  of  the  editors  tlie  right  to  manage  the 
newspapers,  upon  the  ground  that  the  stockholders,  officers,  and 
servants  of  the  Company,  buy  a  large  number  of  copies  daily, 
the  demand  would  r  ^rtaiuly  not  be  listened  to.  The  stockholders 
of  the  Telegraph  Company  will  in  all  human  probability,  deem 
it  their  right  and  duty,  under  all  circumstances,  to  control  and 
manage  their  own  property,  under  such  reasonable  regulations 
as  their  duty  to  the  public  demands,  and  their  own  interests 
dictate." 

That  is  pretty  good,  sir,  for  a  man  who  held  that  the  demands 
of  the  New  York  and  Boston  newspaper  gentlemen  were  right 
and  proper.  I  doubt,  tjir,  whether  the  proposition  would  ever 
have  been  made  if  Mr.  Cyrus  "NV.  Field  had  not  approved  of  it 
and  promised  to  support  it. 

That  absurd  demand  of  the  newspaper  nien  of  Xcw  York 
and  Boston  only  shows  how  easy  it  is  to  get  such  papers  sigiicJ. 
It  needed  only  the  assurance  that  Mr.  Cyrus  W.  Field  was  in 


40 


favor  of  allowing  a  few  select  newspaper  men  to  manage  the  tcle- 
grapli  business  of  the  seaboard.  It  was  supposed  tliat  be  was  a 
great  man  in  the  company.  It  was  not  known  that  he  had  sold 
out  his  stock  before  the  cousolldatiou  and  had  only  picked  up  a 
few  stray  shares  since. 

I  can  easily  imagine,  sir,  wliat  passed  through  the  minds  of 
some  of  the  signers  of  that  paper  when  it  was  submitted  to 
them.  Seeing  some  signatures  already  appended  to  it  they 
readily  followed  suit  saying  to  themselves,  "  Well,  it  would 
certainly  bo  a  good  thing  to  make  tiie  telegraph  subordinate  to 
us.  To  be  sure  this  looks  like  an  audacious  demand,  but  then 
in  signing  it  we  only  follow  the  example  set  by  others,  and  shall 
be  in  Tery  good  company." 

Mr.  Craig  had  only  to  start  the  project  and  get  one  or  two 
signatures ;  all  the  rest  was  sure  to  follow  as  a  matter  of  course 
— thus  exemplifying  the  truth  oi  the  old  adage  that  "one  fool 
makes  many." 

I  understand  that  some  of  the  parties  who  signed  that  silly 
paper  have  frankly  admitted  that  they  are  ashamed  of  it. 


A  Beard 
w  «  n  t  c  d  by 
Meisrt.  Hunt 
Field  kod 
Btwitt,  to 
rtprcient  the 
**  majority  of 
th«    S.ock- 

boldcr>.» 


Messi-s.  Hunt,  Field,  and  Hewitt  say,  that  they  "  believe 
that  it  would  bo  better  for  the  whole  Board  to  resign  and  let  a 
now  one  be  elected  \oho  vjill  represent  the  majority  of  the  stoch- 
holders." 

No  one  knows  better  than  the  gentleman  who  penned  this 
passage,  that  this  project  is  impracticable.  The  Charter  pro- 
vides that  in  case  any  Director  shall  resign,  the  vacancy  may 
be  filled  by  the  J^oard  of  Directors.  The  stockholders  cannot 
fill  any  vacancy.  Messrs.  Hewitt,  Field,  and  Hunt,  cannot 
well  bo  ignorant  of  the  fact  that  the  other  nine  directors  do 
now  "  repitsent  the  majority  of  the  stockholders,"  and  a  very 
largo  majority  too.  What,  then,  do  they  mean  by  this  sugges- 
tion, that  the  whole  Board  shall  resign,  "  and  let  a  new  one  be 
elected,  who  will  represent  the  majority  of  the  stockholders?" 
If  it  bo  desirable  to  have  a  Board  of  Directors  capable  of  acting 
in  harmony  together,  the  desired  object  can  bo  attained  by  the 
resignation  of  Messrs.  Field,  Hewitt,  and  Hunt.  In  tiiat  event, 
three  other  gentlemen  will  be  elected  in  their  places,  who  agree 
in  opinion  with  the  other  nine  Directors.    I  will  undertake  to 


♦■'■ 


41 


1 '  I 


satisfy  Messra.  Fiokl,  Hewitt,  and  Hunt  that  the  other  Directors 
whom  tliey  have  failed  to  convince,  do  represent  a  majority  of 
the  stockholders,  if  that  is  all  that  Messrs.  Field,  Hewitt,  and 
Hunt  want  to  be  satisfied  about ;  for.  Sir,  I  will  show  them  that 
those  other  Directors  actually  own  and  represent  a  large  ma- 
jority  of  the  stock. 

Sir,  the  three  gentlemen  so  often  named  by  me,  are,  I  have 
no  doubt,  aware  of  that  fact  at  the  present  moment,  and  all 
their  talk  about  having  a  Board  to  represent  the  majority  of 
the  stockholders  is  a  mere  delusion.  If,  however,  they  will  not 
resign,  we  shall  have  a  remedy  in  our  hands  next  January  at 
the  annual  election,  and  we  will  take  care  to  use  it. 


i :'. 


'sfi 


Messrs.  Hunt,  Field,  and  Hewitt  contend  that  the  affairs  of  how  the  bu- 
this  company  are  to  bo  manasred,  not  by  the  Board  of  Directors  t-orap«ny  to 

\,  ,  o       >  J  J,,  managed, 

and  the  Executive  Committee,  but  by  the  stockholders,  at  pub- "^eiher  by 

'  •'  *  the  Bonrd  or 

lie  meetings.    I  can  only  say  that  if  this  Tammany  Hall  doc-»«S'ockhoi(i. 
trine  is  to  be  applied  to  the  complicated  affairs  of  this  company 
the  best  thing  to  be  done  is  for  the  company  to  sell  out  to  some 
other  company,  to  bo  managed  on  more  rational  principles. 

Messrs.  Hunt,  Field,  and  Hewitt  say  that  the  stockholders 
may,  at  a  meeting  at  which  only  two  of  them  should  attend, 
take  the  press  difliculty,  if  they  choose,  out  of  the  hands  of  the 
di  -ectors,  and  confide  its  settlement  and  management  to  a  special 
officer  or  committee,  or  decide  in  what  manner  the  tariff  shall 
be  adjusted,  or  any  other  matter  of  business  determined. 

These  three  gentlemen  say  that,  entertaining  this  idea  of  the 
law,  they  held  it  to  be  their  duty  to  call  the  stockholders  to- 
gether to  decide  what  policy  shall  bo  pursued  in  respect  to  ti.e 
monopoly  of  the  foreign  news  held  by  the  New  York  Associated 
Press.  And  they  suggest  that  the  present  directoi's  can  be  got 
rid  of  f  easily''  by  a  request  on  tlie  part  of  the  meeting  that  they 
shall  resijrn,  one  by  one,  so  that  other  persons,  indicated  by  the 
meeting,  may  take  their  places. 

Another  suggestion  is  offered  by  these  three  gentlemen,  viz., 
that  this  meeting  shall  "  select  three  discreet  stockholders,  of 
establish  3d  reputation,  as  umpires  to  decide  the  matters  in  dis- 
pute  lelwcen  the  Kvxutivc  Committee  and  the  Kew  York  cou^ 
"Bolidated  press." 
6 


42 


Before  proceeding  to  examino  these  propositiuns,  I  beg  to 
call  the  attention  of  the  meeting  to  tlio  met  that  the  passage 
last  quoted  contains  an  nncaudid  statciueiit,  calculated,  if  not 
intended,  to  deceive. 

The  three  gentlemen  who  signed  that  statement  know  that 
the  matters  in  dispute  arc  between  the  Board  of  Directors  and 
the  K"ow  York  Associated  Press,  and  not,  as  Messrs.  Hunt, 
Field,  and  Hewitt  would  have  you  believe,  between  the  Execu- 
tive Committee  merely  and  that  association.  The  board  has 
acted  directly  upon  the  matters  in  dispute.  Besides,  the  Ex- 
ecutive Committee  can  be  removed  at  any  lime  by  a  majority 
of  the  Board  of  Directors. 

The  fact  is  simply  this :  nine  out  of  the  twelve  directors  have 
resolved,  after  great  deliberation,  to  make  a  certain  change  in 
the  tariff  on  press  messages  sent  from  Xew  Vor|c  to  Boston. 
Messrs.  Hunt,  Field,  and  Hewitt  opposed  that  change,  and 
now  appeal  from  the  decision  of  tlic  board  to  tlie  stockholders, 
and  try  to  make  you  believe  that  it  is  the  action  of  the  Execa- 
tivo  Committee  alone  which  they  complain  of.  The  same  mis- 
representation is  to  be  found  in  tlio  alvertisement  published  by 
those  gentlemen  in  the  newsp.ipers,  in  which  they  call  upon  the 
stockholders  to  send  their  proxies  to  persons  who  are  not  di- 
rectors. That  advertisement  speaks  of  "  the  clianges  in  the 
tariff,  made  and  to  be  made,  by  the  Executive  Committee." 
And  yet  Messrs.  Hunt,  Field,  and  Hcv/Itt  knew  that  the  changes 
which  had  already  been  made  in  the  tariff  had  been  made  by 
the  board,  with  the  assent  of  nine  d. rectors  out  of  the  twelve, 
'  and  that  the  Executive  Committee  had  been  directed  to  make 
a  report  on  further  changes,  to  be  acted  upon  by  tlie  full  board. 

It  is  not  surprising  that  Messrs.  Field,  Hunt,  and  Hewitt 
should  advise  the  stockholders  to  seiid  their  proxies  to  persons 
ignorant  of  the  affairs  of  the  company.  It  was  the  only  cliance 
that  those  three  gentlemen  had  of  success  in  their  policy. 

I  will  now  proceed  to  show  tliat  these  gentlemen  I  ave 
erred  in  their  vicw.of  the  law,  and  that  if  any  mistake  lias  been 
made  tliey  and  their  legel  adviser,  ]\[r.  D.  D.  rield,  are  respon- 
sible for  it.  Their  position  is  so  novel  and  unreasonable  tliat  I 
can  hardly  suppose  they  really  believe  it  to  be  correct.    They 


If 
1' 


I 


1 


43 


■  I  ■ 


■i^ 


maintain  that  the  complicalcd  affairs  of  this  company  arc  to  be 
carried  on  not  by  the  directors,  but  by  the  stockhoklers.  Tliey 
have  also  insisted  (and  on  this  point  they  are  probably  right) 
that  it  is  not  necessary  to  have  a  majority  of  the  shares  of  stock 
represented  at  a  meetinf;  of  stockholders,  but  that  any  number  of 
stockholders,  however  small,  and  however  minute  tlieir  interest 
may  be,  will  constitute  a  legal  meeting.  They  hold  that  the 
stockholders  so  assembled  may  take  any  or  all  of  tlie  affairs  of 
the  company  into  their  hands — may  appoint  conmiittees,  ofScers, 
and  agents — make  and  repeal  by-laws — purchase  otlier  telegraph 
lines — and  exercise  all  the  powers  given  by  the  charter  and 
general  laws  to  the  corporation. 

If  that  "were  so,  it  would  be  impossible  to  manage  the  afl'airs 
of  the  company  successfully,  and  the  stockholders  would  have 
good  right  to  complain  bitterly  of  the  parties  who  had  drawn 
up  such  a  miserable  cliarter. 

The  charter  was  drawn  up  by  myself,  on  the  part  of  the 
New  York  and  AVashington  Printing  Telcgrapli  Company,  and 
by  Mr.  Dudley  D.  Field  and  Mr.  Abram  S*  Hewitt,  on  tne  part 
of  the  old  American  Telegraph  Compan}-,  and  if  there  bo  any 
defects  in  it  tliose  gcnthmcu  must  share  the  blame  with  tne. 

Mr.  Abram  S.  Hcwitc  was  the  president  of  the  old  American 
Telegragli  Company ;  ho  is  a  resident  of  the  State  of  New 
Jersey,  president  of  the  Trenton  Iron  "Works  Company,  a  Xew 
Jersey  corporation  ;  he  has  received  .a  legal  education,  he  pro- 
fesses to  be  and  no  doubt  is  perfectly  familiar  with  the  statutes 
of  Kew  Jersey,  afllbcting  corporations. 

He  went  to  Trenton  with  the  draft  of  the  charter,  as  settled 
by  himself  and  Mr.  Dudley  D.  Field,  and  got  it  passed  by  the 
Legislature,  with  some  alterations  which  were  made  in  commit- 
tee and  which  ho  absented  to.  !Mr.  D.  D.  Field  charged  the 
old  companies  for  his  professional  services  in  this  matter  and  1 
have  his  bill  for  such  services,  and  the  draft  of  the  cliarter  v.-Jih 
his  alterations  made  on  behalf  of  the  old  American  Coni['any. 

The  charter  docs  not  ])rovIde  for  the  formation  of  the  Com- 
pany in  the  usual  way,  by  subscriptions  for  stock,  but  authorizos 
the  issue  of  stock  to  the  amount  of  the  original  capital,  s740,- 
000,  to  the  persons  named  in  the  lirst  section  of  the  act  and  the 
other  stocklioiders  of  the  Amci'ican  Tclegrapli  Company,  and 


ii 


the  New  York  and  'Washington  Printing  Telegraph  Company. 
That  stock  was  issued  by  the  directors  named  in  the  charter,  by 
virtue  of  the  implied  authority  given  to  them  by  that  instrument. 
We  had  to  effect  the  consolidation  of  the  various  companies  in 
the  best  way  wc  could,  and  it  was  a  task  of  considerable  diffi- 
culty under  the  very  peculiar  circumstances.  I  do  not  suppose 
that  the  work  will  bear  very  rigid  criticism  in  all  its  parts.  But 
delays  were  dangerous,  and  wo  had  to  proceed  as  we  did,  or 
abandon  the  organization  under  the  charter  granted  by  the  State 
of  New  Jersey. 

The  charter  does  not  provide  for  any  meeting  of  the  stock- 
holders prior  to  the  annual  meeting  for  the  election  of  directors, 
but  assumes  that  the  place  of  meeting  and  the  manner  of  con- 
ducting the  election  will  be  settled  by  the  by-laws.  It  was  not 
possible  to  convene  a  meeting  of  the  stockholders  before  the 
Board  of  Directors  had  made  a  by-law  prescribing  the  mode  of 
convening  the  meeting,  and  the  place  where  it  should  be  held. 
The  charter  provides,  section  6,  that  the  meetings  of  the  stock- 
holders may  be  held  as  well  out  of,  as  witliin  the  State  of  New 
Jersey,  "  at  such  times  and  places  as  may  be  provided  by  the 
by-laws." 

This  very  meeting,  sir,  is  convened  under  the  provisions  of 
the  by-laws  made  by  the  Board  of  Directors,  and  wo  have  no 
legal  meeting  now,  and  never  can  have  any,  if  those  bydaws 
are  invalid. 

On  the  12th  October,  1850,  the  company  was  organized  by 
the  directors  named  in  the  charter — there  being  no  other  prac- 
ticable mode  of  organizing.  Mr.  Abram  S.  Hewitt  was  elected 
president,  in  compliance  with  tho  provisions  of  the  charter, 
which  required  the  president  to  reside  in  New  Jersey. 

At  tho  meeting  of  the  directors  on  the  Hth  October,  1S59, 

three  of  the  directors  resigned  and  three  other  gentlemen  from 

the  Magnetic  Telegraph  Company  took  their  places ;  and  the 

following  resolution  was  adopted. 

"Jiesolvedf  That  a  committee  of  three  be  appointed  by  the 
president  to  prej>are  a  code  of  by-laws,  to  be  submitted  to  the 
board  for  adoption." 

Tho  president,  Mr.  Abram  S.  Hewitt,  thereupon  appointed 
Mr.  Barnum,  Mr.  Turdy,  and  Mr.  liussoll,  to  be  such  commit- 
tee. 


IS 


r 


At  tho  meeting  of  tlio  directors  on  23tli  October,  1S59,  tlio 
committeo  on  by-law3  presented  a  draft  of  proposed  by-laws. 
Tho  draft  was  amended  in  many  important  particulars ;  and 
tljcro  were  several  divisions,  tho  vote  being  taken  by  ayes  and 
nays,  and  I  find  Mr.  Hewitt's  name  in  thoso  divisions. 

When  Mr.  Hewitt  appointed  the  committee  to  make  tho  by- 
laws, he  was  fresh  from  his  consultations  with  the  counsel  of 
the  old  American  Company,  and  well  posted  up  in  the  provl- 
sions  of  the  charter  and  the  general  law  of  New  Jersey,  which 
is  to  be  found  in  Xixon's  Digest,  a  book  in  the  hands  of  almost 
every  farmer  and  tradesman  in  Xew  Jersey. 

At  tiie  first  meeting  of  tho  stockholders,  held  in  tho  manner 
prescribed  by  the  by-laws  of  the  Board  of  Directors,  Mr.  Bar- 
num,  as  Vice-President  of  the  Board  of  Directors,  took' the 
chair,  and  Mr.  Dudley  D.  Field  moved  a  resolution  that  an 
application  be  made  to  tho  Legislature  of  Is'ew  Jersey  to  ob- 
tain certain  amendments  to  the  charter,  one  of  which  was  as 
follows  : 

"To  provide  that  the  stockholders  shall  be  the  only  authority 
to  make  or  alter  the  by-laws." 

It  is  to  be  observed  that  no  counsel  for  tho  company  was 
appointed  until  after  the  by-laws  had  been  adopted.  As  to  the 
charter  and  the  organization  under  it,  the  counsel  for  the  old 
companies  with  Mr.  Hewitt  must  be  regarded  as  the  responsi- 
ble advisei-s,  regard  being  had,  however,  to  the  intrinsic  dilH- 
culties  of  the  attempt  to  get  the  various  companies  together. 

In  charity  I  will  assume  that  Mr.  Hewitt  and  Mr.  Dudley 
D.  Field  in  the  heat  of  their  party  spirit  and  in  their  desire  to 
create  confusion  in  the  enemy's  camp,  have  forgotten  tho  part 
they  took  ir^  this  business.  Tlie.-e  is  an  old  adage  that  ^'  it  is  a 
foul  bird  that  wilfully  defiles  its  own  nest." 


Id 


..j,i 


But  it  is  not  true,  as  Mr.  Hewitt  would  now  have  us  believe, 
that  our  charter  is  a  miserable  abortion.  Tho  affairs  of  this 
company  arc  not  to  be  managed  by  stockholders'  mccliugs. 
As  stated  in  the  address  of  the  Executive  Committee,  (p.  5,) 
"The  management  of  the  aflairs  of  the  company  is  confided  by 
the  charter  and  the  laws  to  the  directors.  It  would  be  itnpos- 
Bible  for  the  stockholders  to  manage  those  affairs  successfully." 


i 


46 


;r 


Tho  charter  provides  tlint  tlierc  shall  not  be  less  tlmn  seven 
nor  more  than  thirteen  directors  of  tho  company,  and  that  a 
majority  of  the  directors  shall  constitute  a  quonun  for  transact- 
ing business. 

The  X*  Jersey  Act  of  1S4G  declares  that  "every  corpora- 
lion  as  such  shall  be  deemed  to  have  po\ver." 

1.  To  Lave  succession  by  its  corporate  name. 

2.  To  sue  and  defend. 

3.  To  use  a  common  seal. 

4.  To  purchase  snch  real  and  personal  property  as  the  pur- 
poses of  the  corporation  shall  require. 

5.  To  appoint  such  subordinate  officers  and  agents  as  tho 
business  of  the  corporation  shall  require,  and  to  allow  them  a 
suitable  compensation. 

6.  To  make  by-laws  for  the  management  of  its  property,  tho 
regulation  of  its  afiairs,  and  for  the  transfer  of  its  stock. 

This  does  not  mean  that  the  corporators  at  large  must  exercise 
these  powers  and  that  meetings  of  stockliolders  must  bo  called 
to  authorize  actions  to  bo  brought  or  defended,  or  to  authorize 
contracts  to  be  made  and  the  seal  of  the  company  to  be  affixed 
thereto — or  to  authorize  the  purchase  of  poles,  wire,  insulators, 
stationery,  or  acids,  or  to  appoint  operators  and  line  men,  or 
to  make  regulations  for  the  management  of  the  business  which 
is  to  be  managed  by  the  directors. 

Tho  charter  authorizes  the  directors  to  transact  the  business 
of  the  company.  It  follows  that  they  can  exercise  all  tho  pow- 
ers vested  in  the  corporation  except  such  as  are  in  terms  or  by 
necessary  implication  conferred  upon  the  stockholders. 

The  directors  having  the  power  to  manage  the  business  of 
tho  company  have  the  incidental  power  of  making  rules  and 
regulations  for  that  management.  These  rules  and  regulations 
we  call  by-laws.  They  may  bo  altered  from  time  to  time  by 
the  authority  Avhich  has  made  them. 

It  is  laid  down  in  general  terms  in  treatises  on  the  law  of 
corporations  that  the  incidental  ^)Ower  of  making  by-laws  like 
every  other  incidental  power  of  the  corporation  is  to  '  c  exer- 
cised by  the  members  of  the  corporation  at  large  "in  tho  same 
manner  in  which  the  charter  may  direct  them  to  exc'^uso  other 
powers  or  transact  their  general  business."    AVhen  t      general 


47 


';!l 


busint'53  of  tlio  corporation  is  to  l»c  transacted  "by  directors  or 
iiiatiagora  chosen  by  tlic  stocklioUlers,  the  i)Owcr  of  nulling  by- 
laws is  incidental  io  tbo  power  to  manage  the  business. 

Tlins  the  I'oard  of  Directors  had  the  power  to  issue  stock  in 
tho  first  instance.  Incidentally  they  had  the  power  to  deter- 
niino  what  ehoidd  bo  tlio  form  of  the  certificate,  upon  what 
evidence  the  stock  sltonld  be  issued  to  tho  parties  claiming  it, 
what  books  should  bo  kept,  and  how  transfers  should  be  re- 
corded. 

Tho  directors  of  a  private  money-making  corporation  have 
tho  incidental  power  of  regulating  their  own  modo  of  doing 
business.  Thus,  in  a  case  recently  decided  by  tlio  Court  of 
Appeals  of  the  State  of  New  York,  tho  Court  say  : 

"  In  corporate  bodies  the  powers  of  the  Board  of  Directors 
are  in  a  very  important  sense  original  and  undelegated.  The 
stockholders  do  not  confer,  nor  can  thoy  revoke,  those  powers. 
They  aro  derivative  only  in  tho  sense  of  being  received  from 
tho  State  in  the  act  of  incorporation.  Tho  dircd'yrs  convened 
as  a  Board  are  the  jirinior//  fo'^sessors  of  all  the  povxr-s  which 
the  charter  confers,  and,  like  private  principal,  tliey  may  dele- 
gate to  agents  of  their  own  appointment  tho  performance  of  any 
acts  which  thoy  themselves  can  perform.  Tlic  recognition  of 
this  principle  is  absolutely  necessary  in  the  aflairs  of  every  cor- 
poration whose  powers  are  vested  in  a  Hoard  of  Directors. 
Without  it,  the  most  ordinary  business  could  not  be  carried  on, 
and  tlie  corjjorate  powers  could  not  be  executed." 

The  directors  in  making  by-laws  cannot  aftcct  the  right  of 
voting  ;  and  any  regulations  respecting  the  election  of  directors 
must  be  made  a  reasonable  time  before  tlie  meeting  of  tlie  stock- 
holders, for  tho  act  of  18-10,  sections,  provides  that  **no  by- 
law of  the  directors  and  manageis  of  any  incorporated  com- 
pany, regulating  tlio  election  of  directors  or  ofliceis  of  such 
company,  shall  be  valid  unless  the  same  shall  have  been  made 
thirty  days  previous  to  any  ek-3tio:i  of  such  company,  iv.v\  sub- 
ject to  the  inspection  of  any  btocldiol  lor." 

The  stockholders  need  no  by-lav.s  for  tho  regulation  of  the 
proceedings  at  tiicir  meetings.     Tlie  rules  of  tho  c.-mmon  law 
are  suflicicnt  for  all  practical  purposes  ;  and  if  the  stockholders 
at  any  meeting,  should  undertake  to  make  any  by-laws,  tliey 


.11 


4S 


iniglit  bo  rcpoalo'l,  altered,  or  disrogardcJ  by  any  subscqucjit 
meeting,  for  the  samo  power  mIucU  makes  by-la\v3  can  repeal 
them. 


Me?sr3.  iiunt,  j-mchi,  ana  iiewirt  ton  us,  m  tiio  conciuuiii 
ijrof  Mew/ecntcnco  of  their  address,  that  tlicy  make  this  appeal  from  tl 
•odHtwiti; majority  of  the  Board  of  Directors  to  the  stockholders,  "  to  fr( 


•I  Dirtctor*. 


Messrs.  Hunt,  Field,  and  Hewitt  toll  us,  in  the  concluding 

the 

CO 

themselves  from  the  responsibility  and  odium  which  will  in- 
evitably fall  upon  the  authors  of  the  ruin  of  a  now  prosperous 
corporation,''  which,  they  think,  can  remain  prosperous  only  so 
long  as  D.  II.  Craig  shall  permit  it  to  bo  so. 

It  could  not  bo  necessary  for  the  three  gentlemen  to  drag  all 
the  affairs  of  this  Company  before  the  public  anjl  get  them  pub- 
lished in  the  newspapers,  for  the  mere  sake  of  freeing  themselves 
from  responsibility  as  Directors.  They  shared  that  responsibility 
with  their  colleagues  whom  tlic  stockholders  entrusted  with  the 
management  of  their  aflaii's.  Tiic  majority  of  the  Board  had 
the  right  to  decide  what  policy  should  be  pursued,  and  the  talk 
about  the  responsibility  of  tlio  minority  for  the  decision  of  the 
majority,  is  mere  nonsense,  intended  to  cover  up  the  real  motives 
of  this  factious  movement. 


/utVroenMn  ^^^^  po.stscript  to  tlio  maJiifosto  asserts  that  the  address  of  the 
j,'J'J'^J'^'j^(j,Executive  Committee  "abounds  in  misstatements."  I  defy  the 
.'*'phie*"''  gentlemen  to  establish  that  assertion,  and  I  maintain  that  they 
cannot  show  a  single  statement  in  the  address  cither  intended 
or  caculated  to  mislead.  I'he  only  alleged  error  pointed  out  by 
Mr.  Hewitt  was  the  statement  on  page  4,  tliat  'Mr.  Peter  Cooper 
"sold  out  more  than  a  year  ago  nearly  the  wholo  of  the  stuck 
held  by  him  in  the  old  American  Telegraph  Company.  At  the 
same  time  he  retired  from  any  active  participation  in  telegraph 
affairs  upon  the  ground  that  he  could  not  attend  to  them." 

Mr.  llowitt  says  that  j\[r.  Peter  Cooper  (who  is  his  fiUher-in- 
law)  did  not  sell  the  stock  but  ffavo  it  to  him  and  to  Mr.  Edward 
Cooper.  They  sold  all  the  stock  thus  given  to  them  to  Mr.  Morris 
and  myself.  Wo  had  a  good  reason  for  speaking  of  the  transfers 
of  the  stock  from  Mr.  Peter  Cooper  to  his  sou  and  son-in-law,  as 


49 


Ijaving  boon  inarlo  upon  a  sale,  for  the  tratHfcrs  aro  in  writing  In 
the  ofHce  of  this  Company,  and  purport  to  be  for  value  reccivtil 
ond  not  mere  gifts.* 


Mr.  Haymond  lias  explained  to  ua  the  character  and  objects 

Mr,     n»y« 

of  the  Now   York  Associated  Press,  and   has  criticised   the  nionV. •ut«. 
remarks  of  the  Kxecntivc  Committee  on  that  subject.     He  has  ei.*r»cur 

"  •rid     ohjicii 

quoted  repeatedly  from  our  pamphlet,  but  I  beg  to  call  yourof  <»'«  v  v. 
attention  to  the  fact  that  ho  has  carefully  avoided  noticing  that     •*'«"• 
part  of  the  pamphlet  wherein  the  Executive  Committee  point 
out  the  odious  character  and  results  of  some  of  the  rules  of  that 
Association. 

Mr.  Haymond  has  declared  to  this  meeting  that  the  News 
Association  has  not  a  single  feature  characteristic  of  a  monopoly 
about  it.  lie  says  it  is  nothing  but  an  association  of  several 
journals  to  share  and  thus  lessen  for  each  tho  expense  of  obtain- 
ing telegraphic  news. 

Now,  sir,  I  have  no  objection  to  any  association  of  that  sort. 
Mr.  Ilaymond  knows  that  the  Executive  Committee  neither 
expects  nor  desires  to  prevent  such  associations.  He  has  quoted 
from  page  12  of  tho  pamphlet  the  following  words :  "  This 
Company  certainly  docs  intend  to  break  up  tho  monopoly  of     • 


, "  >J 


♦Messrs,  Hunt,  Fk-lJ,  ami  Ucwitt  linve  sent  a  copy  of  thoir  niaiiife»to  to  «ach  -    .    ^  ^^^^ 
slockholJer,  with  a  Ciicuhu-  datcj  New  York,  July  17,  1S6"\  eireuiar  of 

Id  t)iat  cii'ouliir  t1iu:ic  geutleitien  reiterate  tlieir  old  fallacies  ami  erroiieoiii  a«-iri«|i'i  kqj 
sumptions.     For  taking  the  circular,  iti  connexion  with  tho  niaiiiftsto,  it  U  evident      "ewiit. 
they  are  nssuniinjj  that  the  H  lani  of  Directors  are  "  forcing  the  newspajjer  prcj* 
into  on  attitude  of  hostility  "  merely  because  tho   Board  refuse  to  let  tlie  Agent  of 
the  New  York  Associated  Press  (wLieli  is  far  fro:n  being  "t^e  newspaper  pre<s"  of 
the  whole  country)  dii-tatc  to  and  control  tlie  Company. 

Tlio'C  gentlemen  say  that  ouc  contract  with  the  telegraph  companios  can  only 
bo  bnikea  up  by  our  "  forcing  th«j  newspaper  press  into  an  attitude  of  hostility." 
We  are  not  going  to  force  "  the  nuwypaper  press"  into  such  a  position.  On  tlie 
contrary,  wc  intend  to  liberate  'the  newspaj'er  press"  from  the  yoke  of  I>.  II. 
Crnig  and  the  New  York  A  ■association,  and  we  do  not  care  a  straw  about  tho  h>s- 
tility  of  that  association,  baekod  up  as  we  shall  hi  by  the  press  of  th4  country  at 
large  and  the  comiueroial  coniniuiiity. 

I  hold  that  the  success  of  thf  C'-nipanj  can  ba  seriously  impaired  only  in  vuc 
way,  viz.,  by  allowing  tlie  consolidation  of  the  telegraph  companios  to  be  the  mean* 
of  consolidating  the  power  of  D.  II.  Craig,  and  thus  plating  the  American  Tele- 
graph Company  ut  his  mercy  a  year  or  two  hence. 


•lii 

.!■!  ! 


00 


tlio  foreign  news  onjovcil   hy  tlio  Association."    Tlio   wordi 
iinmcJiately  following'  nic  tlieso  : 

"Tliis  Company  neither  expocti  nor  Jcsircs  to  provent 
ossociations  of  tlio  presi  for  tlio  supply  of  no'va  by  Telegraph. 
On  the  contrary,  tlio  Executivo  Conunittoo  have  uniforinly  do- 
clared  their  intention  to  fulfil  the  covetuitit  with  tho  >[agnetic 
Telegraph  Company  to  supply  facilities  f  )r  rival  nssociationa  of 
that  character." 
Thtedieai      Tliore  is,  fir,  a  feature  characteristic  of  a  very  odious  mo- 

rcfulktlont  ' 

«'«'••  N.  Y.  nopoly  in  this  New  York  Association,  and  Mr.  Raymond 
fnu.  knows  very  well  what  I  refer  to,  although  ho  has  not  deemed  it 
prudent  to  notice  it.  It  is  very  distinctly  stated  in  tiio  pamphlet 
of  the  Executive  Committee,  in  these  word?,  (p.  24) : 

"  By  virtue  of  that  monopoly,  the  A*->ociatcd  Press  of  New 
York  secures  tho  exclusive  poosossion  and  control  of  tho 
European  news,  which  it  sells  out  to  the  Press  all  over  tho 
country.  So  press  is  allowed  to  receive  this  news  unless  it  will 
submit  to  tho  rules  of  tho  Association  ;  one  of  Avhich  rules 
forli'h  the  reception  of  news  except  throifgh  the  Agent  of  the 
Association.''^ 

Mr.  Raymond  could  not  possibly  have  lost  sight  of  that 
passage,  and  of  tho  remarkablo  declaration  of  tlu  Executivo 
Committee  on  page  35  : 

"  Ariangcmeuts  can  easily  bo  made  whereby  tho  Press  of  the 
whole  country  can  bo  far  better  supplied  than  it  is  now  with  tho 
fore'gn  and  domestic  news,  and  that  by  means  of  associations  of 
its  own,  under  the  active  control  of  its  own  representatives, 
without  any  such  despotic  reg!ilatio:is  as  thoso  of  the  New  York 
Associated  VvQi^^forhidduifj  the  recqAion  of  news  through  any 
other  channd  than  D.  JI.  Craig — regulations  calculated  to 
create  and  perpetuate  the  most  odious  monopoly  that  the  wit  of 
man  could  devise." 

"Not  only  can  vastly  superior  arrangements  bo  made  for  tho 
Bupply  of  the  public  new?,  but  tho  co?t  to  each  paper  would,  in 
most  instances  bo  even  less  than  what  is  paid  now  to  D.  II. 
Craig  for  inferior  matter.  The  Pre^s  of  the  wiiolo  country 
outside  of  New  York  city  can  obtain  relief  from  a  disgusting 
tyranny,  and  the  public  at  large  he  rescue;!  from  the  machina- 
tions of  speculators  who,  under  the  present  system,  obtain  and 
use  for  their  own  benefit,  the  earliest  intelligence  allccting  tho 
yalue  of  stocks  and  merchandise." 


51 


Mr.  Raymond  has  quoted  freoljr  and  frequently  from  the 
pamphlet,  but  whenever  he  has  come  to  a  passage  speaking  of 
the  regulations  of  tlie  New A''ork  Association  which  are  designed 
to  prevent  the  public  from  obtaining  any  other  version  of  the 
news  than  that  wliich  Mr.  Craig  supplies,  then  Mr.  Raymond 
has  stopped  short. 

Now,  this  is  somewhat  uncandid  on  the  part  of  "Mr.  Ray- 
mond. Ho  knew  what  we  complained  of,  but  did  not  meet 
the  difficulty.  If  the  New  York  Association  would  abrogate 
the  regulations  in  question,  we  should  have  no  cause  of  quarrel 
with  that  Association. 

The  immediate  effect  of  such  abrogation  would  be,  that  the 
newspaper  press  in  various  parts  of  tlie  country,  would  take  ad- 
ditional tolegrapln'c  messages  containing  the  foreign  news ; 
other  associations  would  be  formed,  in  and  out  of  New  york,*to 
take  that  and  other  news,  and  in  some  cases  the  great  papers 
would  have  special  dispatches  containing  foreign  news  for  tlieir 
own  columns  alone.  Our  Eastern  lines  would  then  pay  hand- 
somely, instead  of  being  a  dead  weight  upon  the  Company,  and 
tho  danger  pointed  out  in  the  following  passage  in  the  pamphlet 
of  the  Executive  Committee  (page  2G)  would  be  avoided  ; 

"  Of  course  there  will  be  associations  for  the  supply  of  Press 
news,  but  what  this  Company  wants  to  prevent  is  the  monopoly 
of  the  news  by  a  single  association.  It  is  very  clear  that  if  loe 
remain  quiet^  and  allow  this  monopoly  to  go  on  tncrcaslnfj  in 
strength  from  day  to  day^  we  shall  soon  find  ourselves  depend- 
ent for  existence  on  the  mere  will  and  pleasure  of  the  agent  or 
manager  of  the  news  monopolists." 

"If  any  single  individual  or  party  can  obtain  and  keep  the 
monopoly  of  the  foreign  news,  he  or  they  will  be  able,  a  short 
time  hence,  to  destroy  the  American  Telegraph  Company.  It 
is  very  probable  that  the  AVestern  Telegraph  Company  would 
not  offur  any  resistance  to  a  party  controlling  the  foreign  nows, 
but  would,  if  required  so  to  do,  give  all  their  busines3  to  lines 
designated  by  that  party." 


I  will  now  read,  sir,  the  rules  of  the  New  York  Associated 
Press,  which  were  designed  to  and  vrhich  have  actually  created  ri.e  rui«»  of 
the  most  odious  and  the  most  dangerous  monopoly  of  the  pros-    SciutJa 
ent  day. 


5d 


The  Association  was  cstablisbed,  in  its  present  form,  on  the 
2l8t  Cctober,  ISoG,  by  the  representatives  of  seven  newspapers 
in  New  Tork  City,  viz. :  The  Journal  of  Commerce^  The  Ex- 
press^  The  Jlcrall,  The  Sun,  The  Tribune,  Tho  Courier  and 
Enquirer,  and  The  Times, 

An  Executive  Committee  was  appointed,  viz. :  Mr.  George 
H.  Andrews  and  Mr.  Frederick  Hudson. 

Article  4  reads  thus — "  No  new  member  shall  be  admitted  to 
this  Association  without  the  unanimous  consent  of  all  the  par- 
ties hereto,  but  the  news  obtained  may  be  sold  to  other  parties 
for  the  general  benefit  of  tho  association,  on  the  vote  of  six- 
sevenths  of  its  membei-3." 

It  is  not  true,  as  often  represented,  that  all  the  leading  news- 
papers in  Boston,  Philadelphia,  Baltimore,  Washington,  &c., 
are  members  of  this  association — they  are  only  customers  of  the 
association. 

The  articles  provide  for  the  appointment  of  an  agent,  whose 
duty  it  is  to  receive  all  telegraphic  communications  for  the 
association  and  transmit  them  immediately  by  manifold  copies 
to  each  of  the  parties  who  may  be  entitled  to  receive  the 
same. 

Agents  or  correspondents  are  to  bo  appointed  at  Washington 
and  at  Albany,  to  furnish  by  telegraph,  or  otherwise,  the  Con- 
gressional and  Legislative  proceedings,  and  correspondents  are 
to  bo  appointed  at  such  other  points  as  may  bo  designated  by 
the  Executive  Committee. 

Articles  9  to  15,  and  part  of  article  22,  read  as  follows  : 

IX.  All  news  received  by  telegraph  shall  be  sent  to  tho 
offices  of  publication  without  unnecessary  delay,  but  its  delivery 
or  publication  may  be  withheld  until  a  specijied  hour,  by  direc- 
tion of  tho  Executive  Committee  through  the  agent  of  tho  asso- 
ciation. 


I! 


X.  Tho  supervision  of  the  arrangements  to  bo  made  by  the 
agent  of  tho  association  shall  be  entrusted  to  the  Executive 
Committee,  who  shall  make  all  necessary  regulations  for  tho 
reception  of  news,  and  whoso  contracts  shall  bo  binding  on  the 


,,'; 


7i  ■ 


1! 


y 


\l 


58 


association.  They  shall  designate  the  time  of  the  pul/ication 
of  the  foreign  and  otbcr  telegraph  news,  arid  the  terms  of  srde 
of  news  tojpartics  out  of  the  city. 

XI.  All  European  and  California  news^  and  all  election 
returns  received  ly  special  express  or  telegraphy  obtained  hy  any 
member  of  the  association,  shall  be  the  common  property  of  all 
the  members  who  may  desire  to  make  use  of  it,  and  the  expense 
assessed  upon  the  members  who  so  use  it,  in  equal  proportions, 
and  all  such  news,  together  with  all  other  news,  except  as  spe- 
cified in  the  Xlllth,  XIYth,  and  XVth  sections,  shall  le  imme- 
diately handed  over  to  the  agent  of  the  association^  to  be  copied 
and  delivered  to  the  several  papers  of  the  association,  in  the 
same  manner  as  other  telegraph  news  is  delivered. 

XII.  iVb  party  receiving  news  from  this  association  shall 
enter  into  any  arrangement  with  rival  telegraphic  neios  agents^ 
in  this  or  any  other  city,  or  with  any  person  in  their  employ, 
nor  shall  they  receive  from  them  any  telegraphic  news  from 
Washington,  Albany,  or  any  other  part  of  the  country,  nor  shall 
such  parties,  nor  any  persons  not  connected  witli  tliis  associa- 
tion, be  permitted  to  avail  themselves  of  the  fticilitics  of  the 
association  for  the  reception  of  California  or  European  news- 
papers, circulars,  or  other  intelligence,  arriving  at  this  or  any 
other  port. 

XIII.  No  member  of  the  association,  and  no  partv  receiving 
news  from  the  association,  will  bo  permitted  to  receive  regular 
telegraphic  dispatches  from  his  own  private  correspondents,  nor 
can  ho  make  arrangements  to  receive  any  special  news  by 
telegraph  without  first  informing  the  other  members  of  the 
association,  and  tendering  a  participancy  in  it  to  him.  From 
this  restriction  are  excepted  reports  of  conventions,  political 
meetings,  trials,  executions,  public  dinners,  sporting  intelli- 
gence, and  the  legislative  proceedings  of  other  States.  Any 
member  can  order  througli  the  agent  of  the  association  special 
items,  or  telegraphic  reports;  but  these  items  or  reports  so 
ordered  must  be  tendered  to  each  j^arty  to  this  arrangement 
and  paid  for,  the  parties  accepting  the  same,  or  any  portion 
thereof. 


54 


XIV.  Dispatclies  iccoivcd  from  a  resident  editor  or  resident 
reporter  of  any  one  particular  paper  connected  witli,or  supplied 
by  the  association,  can  be  used  by  that  paper  for  its  own  sole 
use  and  benefit :  but  news  thus  received,  it  is  understood  must 
not  he  contracted Jbr  by  any  previous  arrangement. 

XV.  It  is  agreed  that  news  originating  in  "NVasliington  City 
and  Albany,  shall  be  excepted  from  all  the  foregoing  rules,  and 
each  paper  is  at  liberty  to  receive  telegraphic  dispatches  from. 
its  o^vn  correspondents  there,  and  publish  the  same  for  its  own 
nse  and  benefit. 

XXII.  Xo  member  of  the  association  shall  disclose  any  por- 
tion of  the  news  received  by  the  same,  until  the  time  designated 
for  its  piiblication  by  the  Executive  Committee,  except  in 
posting  the  arrivals  of  vessels  on  a  bulletin. 

It  will  be  readily  seen,  that  the  great  object  of  these  i  'es,  is 
to  secure  to  the  seven  New  York  papers  the  control  the 
news,  so  that  the  seven  members  of  the  Now  York  Associ  on 
may  sell  out  such  portions  of  the  news  as  they  please  on  such 
terms  and  conditions  as  they  please  t*^  the  outside  papers,  and 
keep  them  and  the  telegraph  companies  in  a  state  of  complete 
subordination.  To  this  end  it  is  provided,  that  the  customers  of 
the  association  shall  not  be  allowed  to  procure  certain  kinds  of 
news  of  the  most  important  character  fiom  any  other  source. 
The  association  tells  its  customers  that  it  must  not  deal  v.'ilh 
anybody  else,  and  as  matters  now  stand  the  prohibition  is 
effective. 


The  subicction  in  which  the  Press  of  this  country  is  held  by 

The  public  •:.  11.  /.11  '  -KT 

confined  to  thcsc  rcgulatious  13  utterly  disgraceful  to  the  nation,   JNo  paper 
Ter.ioti  of  receiving  news  from  the  Xew  York  Association  dare  to  publish 

the  foreign  °  ,  * 

news,  a  piece  of  foreign  news  transmitted  by  telegraph  other  than 
that  supplied  by  Mr.  Craig.  Ills  version  of  the  news  and  no 
other,  must  be  disseminated  throughout  the  country  by  tele- 
graph. The  report  of  the  state  of  the  foreign  markets,  which 
he  may  choose  to  have  made  up,  goes  into  every  paper.  It 
may  bo  bogus  in  many  important  particulars,  but  uo  correction 


55 


'I 


cjm  be  had  tlirougli  the  public  prints.  Private  messages,  sent 
to  particular  inrlivicluah,  may  correct  the  errors  in  the  pub- 
lislied  dispatch,  or  may  furnish  additional  details,  buo  the 
public  at  largo  must  put  up  with  what  Mr.  Craig  gives  them. 
No  contradiction — no  explanation — no  further  details  can  ba 
h  ad  from  other  sources  by  telegraph. 

Tiie  great  New  ^  i-k  papers,  it  is  true,  enjoy  the  privilege  of 
selling  out  the  ne\v3  to  and  domineering  over  the  Press  of  the 
other  cities,  but  in  return  for  this,  they  have  to  give  up  im- 
portant advantages,  and  to  occupy  a  contemptible  position. 

The  New  York  Herald^  for  example,  publishes  special  tele- 
graph dispatches,  containing  the  debates  in  Congress;  that 
paper  is  not  confined  to  the  common  dish  served  up  for  all 
the  papers  alike,  but  when  it  comes  to  the  foreign  'news,  it 
can  only  give  its  readei-s  Craig's  dispatch,  which  appears  alike 
in  ihe  penny  papers  of  the  city  of  New  York  and  in  the 
columns  of  many  of  the  "  rural  journals." 

If  a  paper  belonging  to  the  New  York  Association,  or  taking 
news  from  the  same,  should  dare  to  publisli  a  telegraph,  mes- 
sage from  Halifax  or  Cape  Hace,  not  supplied  through  Mr. 
Craig,  that  paper  would  be  expelled  from  the  Association,  or 
deprived  thereafter  of  the  news  supplied  by  the  agent  of  that 
Association.  No  daily  paper  could  continue  long  to  'exist  under 
the  ban.  But  if  the  New  York  llcrah.l  and  other  papers  were 
allowed  to  publish  special  foreign  reports,  numerous  versions 
of  the  news  would  be  sent  by  different  reporters  ;  some  of  the 
papers  would  vie  with  each  other  in  the  fulness  and  complete- 
ness of  their  reports,  and  in  the  style  of  the  same  ;  our  lines  in 
Maine,  New  Brunswick,  and  Nova  Scotia  would  cease  to  bo 
pauper  lines,  starving  upon  a  single  message  sent  by  Mr.  Craig 
once  a  week  or  once  a  fortnight,  for  a  miserable  compensation, 
and  that  accompanied,  too,  by  gross  and  brutal  in.sults. 

This  wretched  system  is  too  absurd  to  be  tolerated  by  a  high- 
spirited  a!id  intelligent  Pre-s  and  conmiunity,  when  the  enorm- 
ity of  the  evil  is  generally  made  ki  own.  But  the  newspapers 
out  of  t!ie  citv  of  2s ew  York  miirlit  remain  for  a  considorablo 
time  longer  under  this  disgraceful  yoke  from  sheer  inability  to 
throw  it  olf,  if  our  Company  sliould  fail  to  abide  by  its  cove- 
nant to  use  all  legitimate  me.ins  to  relievo  them  from  it. 


56 


How  the  mo.  I  will  poiut  out  somc  of  tliG  difficulties  which  havo  herotofoFo 
fo«igJ  Mwtprcveutcd  tlie  destruction  of  this  monopoly  of  the  foreign 
kepi  up."  news.  Many  newspapers  throughout  the  country  have  been 
restive  under  the  infliction,  but  hJivo  had  finally  to  succumb. 
They  could  not  do  without  the  earliest  foreign  news,  and  they 
could  not  get  it  except  through  Craig,  in  consequence  of  his 
arrangements  with  the  Telegraph  Companies,  and  the  effect  of 
the  rules  of  the  Xew  York  Associated  Press. 

Suppose,  for  example,  a  number  of  papers  to  associate  toge- 
ther to  get  telegraph  dispatcher,  cotitaining  foreign  news — for 
this  act  of  rebellion  they  are  liable  to  bo  banished  at  once  from 
the  list  of  dependents  of  the  Xew  York  Association.  In  that 
event,  the  rebels  may  have  their  property  destroyed  altogether, 
if  their  arrangements  for  securing  the  foreign  news  as  early  as 
their  competitors  may  get  it  from  Craig,  should  happen  to  bo 
defective.  But  for  the  rule  of  the  Association,  that  papers 
taking  the  news  from  them  shall  get  none  elsewhere,  many 
news  reporting  arrangements  would  have  been  made.  That 
rule  has  prevented  the  desired  action — the  arrangements  made 
by  Craig  to  secure  tlio  control  of  the  Eastern  Telegraph  lines, 
would  not  alone  have  resulted  in  a  monopoly  of  the  foreign 
•     news  in  his  hands. 

The  telegraph  line  was  extended  to  Halifax  upon  the  faith  of 
an  undertaking  entered  into  by  the  agent  of  the  Xew  York  As- 
sociated Tress,  to  take  three  tliousand  words  on  tlie  arrival  of 
each  mail  steamer  at  that  port,  and  to  pay  at  abojit  double  the 
•  ordinary •  rates  of  tariff.  Any  other  Press  agent  would  only 
have  had  to  pay  a  single  rate,  but  the  arrangement  between 
the  Nova  Scotia  Telegraph  Compp-iy  and  the  agent  of  the  Xew 
York  Association,  trave  the  latter  advantages  over  all  rivals. 
"Whilst  that  contract  existed,  it  would  havo  been  futile  for  any 
newspaper  in  the  United  States  to  attempt  to  get  the  foreign 
news  from  Halifax  until  the  agent  of  the  Xew  York  Association 
had  got  his  message  through.  Tliere  was  but  a  single  wire,  and 
iho  message  could  be  spun  out  to  any  length  so  as  to  occupy 
the  wircij  continuously — six,  twelve,  or  any  greater  number  of 
hours  if  required. 

lint  in  May,  lSo9,  the  agent  of  the  Xew  York  Association 
liavinc  refus;od  to  fulfil  his  contract  with  the  Xova  Scv^tia  Coni- 


m 


57 


/! 


pany,  that  company  uiado  anotlier  coiilract  with  Messrs.  John- 
son &  Zabriskio,  by  which  they  obtained  the  cxchi.sivc  use  of 
tlio  Nova  Scotia  lines  for  the  transmi.-ijion  of  the  Kuiopoanof'riv^ii're.i 
1ICW9.  The  contract  was  in  form  dilieront  from  the  fornier  one,  sackYiii*. 
but  was  in  effect  and  for  all  practical  purposes  tlio  same,  so 
far  as  relates  to  the  exclusive  use  of  tlii-i  line  for  the  purpose  in 
question.*  Alessi  Tohnson  &  Zabriskio  proposed  to  supply 
the  newspapers  th'  ghout  the  country  with  the  foreign  news, 
and   were  suppoi'ted  by   the    entire   Press    of  Piiiladelpliia.f 


*  The  fuUowing  letter  to  the  Superintendent  of  the  Nova  Scotiti  line^,  shows 
that  Sir.  Craig  so  construed  the  contract : 

Halifax,  6th  Feb..  1850. 
F.  N.  GianotNE,  Esq. :  m   r    i  • 

Dear  Sir, — I  re^pectfuUjr  notify  you,  that  should  public  or  private  dispatcher  bedemaDd  of 
allowed  to  reach  Boston  in  nJviince  of  the  dispatchoi  fo  the  Associated  Ptca,  we'  *'„"[*_'" 
ehnll  not  hold  ourselves  bou:  i  to  pay  thii  line  the  sum  of  seventy-five  dollar;! 
tolls,  nor  any  other  sum,  as  it  must  be  obvious  to  you  that  our  di.*pntche4  would 
be  of  little  or  no  value  to  the  Associated  Press,  in  case  other  report*  of  the  leading 
features  of  the  news  are  allowed  to  arrive  at  Boston  and  New  York  in  advance  of 
ours.  Respectfully,  ttc. 

D.  H.  Craig. 

AgtN.  Y.  Ass'd  Tress. 

f  This  fact  is  shown  by  the  following  communication. 

Pbiladklpuia,  July  9th,  ISi'.t. 
A.  S.  HEWITT, 

President  American  Telegroph  Company, 
Dear  sir, — The  course  pursued  by  your  company  in  detainii:g  the  forei^'n  dis- 
patches of  Messrs.  Jolmson  «t  Ziibriskie,  telegraph  reporters  for  tlie  rre^*,  in  order 
that  another  party  may  have  the  preference,  does  not  meet  with  our  a('[>rob.'ition. 
We  hope  the  company  over  which  you  preside  will  sec  tlie  importance  of  hiving 
their  dispatches  for  us  forwarded  immedintrly  after  their  reception  iti  ymir  ofiica 
at  Sackvillc.  Tlie  arrangement  at  proseut  is  very  unsatisfactory  to  us  and  must 
bo  very  prejudicial  to  the  public  interests. 

Yon  rs.  truly, 
Fred.  "W.  Gratson  «t  Cf>,  Kvtiilny  Journal. 
J.  R.  Flaxiolv,  7>.i(7'/  .Vt'".*. 
JcsrcR  Harping  Jc  Sox,  T/tt  Tii'juirer, 
J.  SiKVtxs  it  Co.,  f.'vcniiiy  Mr</'(*. 
Dk.  E.  iloRwii/,  Murn'i:tg  Penu.ti/liauian. 
Hoffman  it  Mouwir/,   Otnnin  Dnnon-Jt. 
CcMMiXGS  it  rEACocK,  J'/iil'tdflpfiii  JS  ■tiiiirj  Bulletin. 
M.  McMuHAKL,  North  Anil ru-iiii. 
J.Vf.FonsKV.T/ic  J'ress. 
Jxo.  S.  Jacksox,  SttiiJi.i;^  Traiixi-rlj't. 
Gko.  G.  Tni'M^s  it  Co..'>'u/i'/?y  At!a*. 
Lawler,  Evkuht  it  lIixt'KEX,  ^cnl'iii  Dhpilch. 
SwAix  ifc  Adfll,  PhUIc  I.edijer. 
Jones  it  ilcGat,  Sunday  Jfercury. 
Before  thij  pome  of  the  Thiladelphia  papers,  viz. ;  The  Inquirer,  The  Journal, 

8 


08 


But  they  coulil  not  get  their  messages  tlirough  to  Now  York ; 
the  old  American  Telegraph  Company  refusctl  to  send  them. 

If  those  messages  had  hecn  forwarded  us  tlioy  ought  to  havo 
been  by  the  American  Company,  the  monopoly  of  the  Now 
York  Association  wonUl  have  been  at  onco  and  for  ever 
broken  up. 

Mr.  Craig,  however,  with  Mr.  ^yil^on  G.  Hunt,  had  influence 
enough  in  the  Board  of  Directors  to  induce  that  body  to  fly  to 
the  rescue  of  the  New  York  Association,  and  boldly  to  defy 
the  law  and  disregard  the  obligations  which  the  Company 
owed  to  the  public,  and  in  consequence  of  that  intervention  Mr. 
Craig  obta'.!>ed  a  complete  triumph. 


!•' 


Let  us  see,  sir,  what  reasons  were  put  forth  for  this  extraor- 
dinary conduct  of  the  old  American  Company. 

Imagine,  sir,  a  dispatch  sent  by  ^Messrs.  Jolin^on  &  Zabriskio 
from  Ilalitax  to  Sackville,  where  tlie  lines  of  the  American 
Company  commenced — a  dispatch  containing  most  import- 
ant news  from  Europe — tlie  agent  of  the  American  Telegraph 
Company  su^  „,  "  I  am  ordered  not  to  send  it — we  expect  in  ten 
or  twelve  hours  from  this  time  that  Mr.  Craig  will  get  a  dis- 
patch in  this  office,  which  he  has  sent,  or  will  send  by  hordo 
express;  and  wo  mean  to  send  that  d'  )atch  over  our  lines,  and 
not  yours." 

The  audacity  of  this  performance  is  unequalled.     Mr.  Abrain 


27(«  North  American,  And  The  Press  tried  to  get  up  a  permanent  opposition  to  tlie 
New  York  Associated  Press,  as  will  be  seen  by  the  following  piiper, 

I'aiLADELPiiiA,  December  21st,  1SG8. 
We  think  it  necessary  for  the  interest  of  the  press  of  this  city  that  a  permanent 
opp<):)ition  Bhould  be  sustained  to  the  New  York  Associated  I're^s.  We  can  by 
tliis  means  get  more  reliable  reports,  and  be  better  serve. 1.  In  order  to  do  this  we 
will  join  with  our  brethren  of  the  press,  if  they  will  all  combine,  and  p;iy  tlie  extra 
ten  doUurs  per  week  for  Congress  reports  to  Messrs.  Cnrr  »t  Johnson,  of  this  citv, 
instead  of  paying,  as  at  present,  that  amount  for  the  reports  furnished  by  tho 
New  York  Associated  Press,  commencing  on  Monday  next. 

.  JEsrca  IIaudi.no  ,t  Sox. 

FitKD.  \V.  GttAYSO.V  it  Co.    * 

M.  McMiciiA»ji.. 
.  J.  W.  FoK.vty, 


.; 


69 

S.  Hewitt  was  the  President  of  the  American  Company  at  that 
time,  and  tlioro  arc  but  few  men,  besides  him,  who  would  have 
dared  to  withliold  from  the  people  of  this  country,  for  ten  or 
twelve  hours,  tlic  intelligence  which  they  had  a  right  to  re- 
ceive, and  which  might  bo  of  the  utmost  importance,  not  only 
to  individuals  but  to  the  community  at  largo. 

I  find  published  in  the  New  York  Herald^  of  June  4th,  1850, 
some  correspondence  on  tliis  subject.  From  that  we  shall  learn 
what  arguments  were  urged  by  Mr.  Hewitt  in  support  of  this 
proceeding. 

Iho  first  letter  to  which  I  shall  refer  is  one  dated  June  3d, 
1859,  addressed   to  tlie  N.  Y.  Associated  Press  by  the  old   • 
American  Telegraph  Company,  through  fheir  Secretary. 

In  that  letter  the  action  of  the  Company  is  defended  upon  p^^j,  ^^ 
the  ground  that  it  was  authorized  by  the  law  of  New  York  to  **'^' *,'"* 
make  preferential  arrangements  in  favor  of  newspapers  ;  that 
the  Nova  Scotia  Company  "  had  given  a  preferential  and  ex- 
clusive contract  to  ^^^'/ua^c  parties  for  the  right  to  transmit  tho 
foreign  intelligence ;" — that  the  American  Company  would  not 
sanction  so  odious  an  arrangement,  and  therefore  had '"in- 
structed their  agents  not  to  transmit  over  their  lines  any  for- 
eign news  which  reaches  tlieir  office  at  Sackville  by  telegraph, 
until  after  the  news  is  received  there  by  other  modes  of  trans- 


mission 


» 


The  first  part  of  this  letter  runs  thus : 

"  Gkntlemkx, — Ever  siuce  the  establishment  of  telegraphic 
lines  of  communication  in  this  country,  the  fundamental  rule 
for  tlieir  use  by  tho  public  has  been  that  messages  shall  be 
transmitted  in  the  order  of  their  reception,  and  that  no  pre- 
ference shall  be  allowed  in  tho  transmission  of  dispatches.  Tlio 
only  exception  to  this  equitable  and  indispensable  rule  has  been 
in  favor  of  news  iiUonded  for  publication  in  the  newspapci-s, 
and  therefore  regarded  a?  the  property  of  the  whole  conunu- 
nity.  Telegraph  companies  organized  under  the  laws  of  this 
State  are  allowed  to  make  such  preferential  arrani;etni-iits,  and  no 
other.  The  public  have  a  peculiar  intort;5t  in  the  foroi-n  news, 
which  usually  come-^  to  us  by  way  of  Halifax,  or  St.  John's, 
N.  F.     For  some  vears  the  arraugoinents  of  the  Associated 


u 


60 


yof 
Mes- 


Press  bavo  secured  to  the  public  at  largo  tlio  foreign  news  in 
advance  of  any  and  all  private  advices  wliattver." 
In  another  letter,  from  the  American  Telegraph  Company 
I  to  the  Secretary  of  the  Xova  Scotia  Company,  dated  New- 

York,  ^[ay  ITth,  1S:»9, 1  find  the  following  ])a?sago  : 

"By  the  laws  of  this  State,  and  the  scttlcl  practice  of  tele- 
graph companies,  the  Press  arc  foirly  entitled  to  the  preference 
in  obtaining  the  steamer's  news,  in  order  that  speculators  may 
not  operate  at  the  expense  of  the  public.    It  is  alleged,  and 
you  do  not  deny,  that  you  have  agreed  to  give  a  preference  in 
the  transmission  of  the  foreign  news  to  a  private  party.    This 
arrangement  is  not  only  unreasonable  but   unjust,  and  it  is 
n  .klerod  particularly  objectionable  at  this  time  by  the  excited 
and  interesting  state  of  foreign  affairs.   If  this  Coiupany  should 
transmit  such  dispatch  in  advance  of  tlie  public  nows,  it  would 
become  a  participator  in  the  wrong." 
The  law  of  New  York  makes  it  tlio  duty  of  telegraph  com- 
iiiegaiityof  P''^"'^8  to  transmit  all  dispatches  in  the  order  in  which  they 
'of*  uTe"©!!!  *  ttre  received,  "  provided,  however,  that  arrangements  maybe 
^cJmpiny.j*  niade  with  the  proprietors  or  publi-ilters  of  newspapers  for  the 
transmission  for  the  purj)Oso  of  publication  of  intelligence  of 
general  and  public  interest  out  of  its  regular  order." 

It  is  very  right  and  proper,  sir,  for  telegraph  companies  to 
give  priority  to  dispatches  for  the  press,  because  of  their  great 
importance  to  the  public.  The  welfare  of  the  public  is  of  para- 
mount consideration. 

The  American  Company  might  have  been  justified  in  giving 
a  preference  to  a  message  for  the  New  York  Association  over 
one  for  jMessrs.  Johnson  &  Zabriskie,  on  the  ground  that  the 
former  more  fully  represented  the  newspaper  press  than  the 
latter — if  such  was  the  fact.  That  is  to  say,  the  message 
of  Messrs.  Johnson  Sc  Zabriskie  might,  on  that  ground — if  the 
fact  were  as  supposed — be  set  aside,  although  received  first  in 
the  office.  All  private  messages  lying  ready  to  bo  sent,  or 
sent  already  in  part,  may  be  set  aside  in  order  that  the  publica- 
tion of  intelligence  of  general  and  public  interest  may  not 
be  delayed. 

But  it  was  a  monstrous  perversion  of  the  law  to  hold  that 
because  the  mcT3a<^c  for  Jolinson  &  Zabriskie  was  to  bo  treated 


1 


61 


''ill' 


I 


I- 


A3  a  private  message  it  might  bo  detaincrl  in  order  to  givo 
priority  to  a  jjrcss  message  not  yet  rcceiveJ  by  the  company 
for  transmission.  Tlio  company  might,  wlien  transmitting  the 
so-called  private  message,  have  broken  oflF  before  completing 
it,  80  m  to  send  a  press  message  immediately,  but  the  company 
could  not  rightfully  say  to  any  party  tendering  a  message, 
"  "We  will  not  send  it,  because  we  expect  another  party  to  send 
a  message  of  the  same  nature  to-morrow,  or  ten  or  twelve 
hours  hence."  One  who  is  in  the  habit  of  jumping  to  conclu- 
sions without  taking  the  trouble  to  think,  might  assume  that 
the  New  York  statute  which  I  have  quoted  authorized  such  a 
mode  of  doing  business,  but  it  is  inconceivable  that  a  lawyer, 
even  one  better  qnolified  to  take  part  in  political  scrambles 
than  to  exai.i.ne  legal  questions,  could  deliberately  put  such  on 
absurd  construction  upon  the  law. 

Mr.  Abram  S.  Hewitt  has  often  contended  that  the  conduct 
of  the  company  was  perfectly  legal,  and  Mr.  Dudley  D.  Field 
has  told  this  meeting  to-day,  that  the  Executive  Committee,  in 
settling  the  action  of  Johnson  &  Zabriskie,  c/ics'j  to  pay  out 
the  money  of  the  company  without  a  particle  of  right,  and  ho 
evidently  assumed  that  those  gentlemen  had  no  claim  against 
the  company. 

On  the  contrary,  sir,  I  regard  the  action  of  the  company  as 
absurd,  illegal,  and  even  criminal ;  and,  in  my  opinion,  the 
Directors  who  authorized  the  detention  of  the  public  news  at 
Sackville,  in  the  manner  I  have  described,  ought  to  liave  been 
indicted  for  the  offence. 

If  the  offence  had  been  committed  in  this  State,  "Mr.  Hewitt 
would  have  been  brought  under  the  operation  of  the  New 
York  Statute,  whicli  declares  the  wilful  refusal  to  transmit  a 
telegraph  message  to  be  a  misdemeanor,  and  jirovidcs  that  the 
offender,  npon  conviction,  "  shall  suffer  imprisonment  in  the 
county  jail  or  workhouse,  in  the  county,  where  such  conviction 
shall  be  had  for  a  term  of  not  more  than  three  months."* 


tl 


*  A  pamplilet  puWi=bcJ  i:i  H53  by  tlie  >'ovft  ?cotia  Telegraph  Coa-.pany,  con- 
tains tlic  correspondence  on  tbc  subject,  of  the  discontinuance  of  the  contract 
between  tlie  Nova  Scotia  Comp:\ny  nnJ  Craig.  The  folluwing  abstract  of  ituport- 
ant  portions  of  that  correspondence  slows  the  nature  of  that  controct;  it  ftl^o  ex- 


^: 


Th«  preftr- 
toe«(nJojre<i 
by  Cr«lg  un> 
dtr  bit  old 
contrktwKh 

tbi  N'OTB 

ScotU  Com- 
pany. 


Crtlg'i  at- 
tack upon 
the  Nova  ^co 

tia  I^irect'jri 
and  oUiccrs. 


63 


Mr.  0.  W.  Field  lir\3  tolil  tlio  mooting  that  tlio  profits  upon 
tlio  aniuiiut  ori^iimlly  invostcil  in  tlio  construction  of  tho  Mag- 

po«ea  tlifc  inNooiiiluot  of  tl;o  ngont  of  tli<?  X.  Y.  A«»ocinteJ  Pre«,  and  tUo  complclo 
■ubAcrTU'tioy  of  tl  o  (.IJ  Aiuerioan  Cumpany  to  hit  dictation 

Extract  from  letter  date  J  Halifas,  May  lOtli,  ISJl),  from  J.  C.  Cogswell,  Prcsi- 
dtnt  of  the  Nova  Scotia  Tt'lojra|)h  Company  to  Peter  Cooper,  Pre.Mtk'nt  of  llio 
American  ami  NewfouoJlanl  Tele^rni'Ii  Companies: 

"The  origlnnl  n;jreeniont  with  the  AsjcKiateil  Prcjs  wns  made  in  IS.'JO  by  tho 
GoTernmcnt  of  Nova  Scotia,  and  under  it  the  Preii  contracted  to  send  over  our 
wires  3.(iOO  word*,  on  tlie  arrival  of  each  regular  mail  steamer,  for  tho  sum  of  $75. 
The  Govcrnniont  lines  parsed  into  tho  bands  of  tho  Company,. and,  in  November, 
1S03,  notice  was  given  to  the  AjM^ciated  Press  that  the  price  of  news  would  ho 
raised.  After  some  negotiation  and  gome  complaint  on  the  part  of  the  Press  the 
terms  were  agreed  upon.  In  the  letter  from  the  Associated  Picss  consenting  to 
pay  the  $150,  one  «.peiial  proposition,  made  by  themselves,  was,  that  six  months' 
notice  of  termination  shmld  be  given. 

"All  went  on  w  ell  enough  till  in  July,  135S,  the  Cunard  steannhip  IJuropa  passed 
Newfoundland,  and  news  received  there  by  her  was  sent  to  New  York,  On  tlio 
arrival  of  the  L'ta-opi  at  Halifax,  soon  after,  the  Press  agent  refused  to  send  the 
usual  3,000  words  on  the  ground  that  it  had  lo^t  its  value.  The  samu  thing  has 
occurred  tvice  or  thrico,  since, — the  Press  refusing  to  pay — our  Company  claim- 
ing the  full  amount. 

"We  conceive  ourstlv-s  justified  in  so  claiming  on  the  simple  ground  that,  by  its 
agreement,  the  Press  coulradtd  to  tend  3,000  wonU  upon  the  arrival  of  the  Cunard 
•teamers,  and  under  that  contract  we  have  always  faithfully  held  our  wires  at 
their  disposal.  We  have  refused  large  offers  for  preferential  mcisages,  holding 
ourselves  bound  to  Mr.  Craig,"' 

Extract  from  a  Utter  of  the  Executive  Committee  of  the  Nova  Scotia  Telegraph 
Company  to  P.  II.  Cr.;ig,  d.\tcd  Nov.  16th,  Is.j,') : 

"I  am  instructed  by  the  Executive  Comtnitteo  to  give  notice  that  upon  the  clme 
of  the  current  year,  they  cannot  continue  to  send  the  steamer's  dispatch  to  the 
Associated  Press  upon  the  terms  on  T.hich  it  is  now  sent.  This  jirefertutlal  dis- 
patch monopolizes  the  trunk  line  of  the  Company  usually  about  halt'  a  day,  thus 
•wholl}'  excluding,  during  that  time,  other  business  which  the  Executive  Cominilteo 
believe  wotdd  be  more  profitable  to  tho  Company.     ♦     •     » 

Under  all  the  circum-tances,  the  Committee  consider  they  cannot,  after  the 
comrncncetiif  ntof  the  incoming  year,  continue  to  send  a  ;)Ci^irr«i//(.7di!>patch  to  the 
Associated  Press,  on  the  anival  of  the'I't;glisb  steamer,  ot  a  less  rate  ihtxu  one 
hundrtd  and  fifty  doUan  U)T  each  dispatch  of  ."^,000  words.  The  sum  at  present 
received  is  not  a  re-nuneratinn  to  the  company  for  sending  such  a  di-^patch.  Other 
parties  are  willing  to  give  the  great«  r  Bum  fur  ifie  iinftifiire  noiu  aUoucd  to  the 
AMOeiated  Press  but  the  Committee  wish  to  give  tliat  Associa 
accepting  or  rejecting  the.«c  t«rm9." 

ExtracLs  from  letter  frurn  D.  U.  Crnig  to  J.  C.  Cogswell,  Prt  sidcnt  of  the  Nova 
Scotia  Telegraph  Compni:y,  dated  May  3d,  1S59  : 

"  We  are  nccustoined  to  deal  w  ilh  telegraph  gentlemen  who  are  above  the  de- 
spicable tricks  wc  have  reason  to  believe  vou  ami  your  Rssociatcs  are  about  to 
■  re.-;ort  to,"  •  •  *  #/#'«  *  #  * 

"  Your  assertion  that  you  brolie  oil  with  us  bc('ai:s}  we  would  not  act  harmo- 
niously or  bccau'-e  of  any  improicr  fr  di-c>>urleoiis  bmgiia;.,'«;  to  you  is  entirely 
deatiiutt  of  ti>'th,  ns  wLal  1  Imve  befoic  stated  provis  c^iiclu-ively.  It  btrikes  mo 
that  gentlemen  of  jiunor  occcui.ying  the  highly  responsible  po^ition  you  and  your 
flssocmtfcs  do,  would  hardly  o(^.'■/)  to  the  tnikuy  you  openly  acknowledge  to  be 
your  future  management  of  your  lines ;  for  curselvco  we  scorn  to  follow  your  laic 


.11 


iation  the  option  of 


'■1. 


nctic  Company's  lino  nro  very  large,  yielding  now,  I  think  ho 
says,  to  tiio  fortunnto  stoctlioUlei-s    tliirty-two  j)or  cent.   i)er 

txninpU.  Our  «rrunj,'emont«  are  now,  ai  tliey  before  hnve  been,  opf'n  nml  nliove 
Lonrd.  We  ahull  omleavor  to  plnco  llie  »teatiifr«'  newi  in  your  oflTicc  in  ftilranou  of 
all  otlior  pnrliuH  for  tlio  future  ui  wo  Imve  Jxm  for  llm  pa*t  !•  n  t/fHi-t,  nml  we  ex- 
peut  that  you  wilt  nerul  it,  nhea'l.  We  hire  iiu  favors  to  ••L*  o^  ymi,  ami  \vunltl 
iicorn  to  accept  from  n  telegraph  coiitpatiy  ^o  lojt  to  ererj  »eiMe  of  dectnoy  ai  to 
declare  puMicly,  at  li'a«t  in  ettect,  that  it  will  diioanl  all  honorable  and  open  mica 
and  usn^^ca,  known  among  telegrapher*,  and  rosort  to  tiicktrjr  and  the  I'eter  Funk 
game." 

Extract  from  telngrain  from  D.  H.  Craig  to  F.  X.  Giiborno,  dnteil  X«w  York, 
January  2d,  1 850 ; 

"One  of  the  Fog  Smith  thi'.'Te»  ha*  reported  that  you  hare  aviured  your  Boston 
friends  that  the  Newfoundland  Company  have  riokted  their  contract  with  the 
Nora  Scotia  Company,  and  that  the  ngri'cmeut  of  1855  hos  been  .euperjedcd. 
Now  you,  and  the  st\ipid  people  wlio  a;o  putting  you  forward  to  make  a  fool  of 
yourself,  know  that  that  statcmcut  of  yotirt  ii  a  Oaic  lie,  and  you  may  be  sure  that 
the  Itosion  people  have  now  got  their  eyoi  open,  and  will  not  take  your  word  or 
More's." 

Extract  from  letter  from  W.  H.  Wijwell,  Secretary  of  the  Nova  Scotia  Tele- 
graph Company,  to  John  Hunter,  ajcnt  of  Mr.  Craig,  dated  Apl.  30,  1859  : 

"  As  to  your  remnrki  about  our  not  being  allowed  to  enter  into  arrangement! 
with  othor  purtic;*,  for  »cn(lin;»  jirt/ero'tiil  ili^patche*,  the  committt'fl  hardly  un- 
derstand them.  You  yourself,  por!»on:illy,  and  also  on  behalf  of  Mr.  Craig,  make 
tliPiu  I  ropobition  for  traiisiiii^.-ion  of  such  prtfcrfntial  di«patch«>#.  Such  prefcr- 
fHco  has  been  given  to  tho  New  York  As*oci  ite d  |*rt»s  for  years.  It  was  given 
by  the  Govcriinivnt  of  Nova  Pcofiii,  \\\,(-i\  it  owned  the  line?,  and  was  cotitioued 
by  the  company  on  its  assuniiitioii  of  tliu  rij^lits  and  linljilitifs  of  the  goveiniuent 
It  seems  stiangi!  that  you  should  now  hint  at  contesting  the  legality  of  proceedings 
t^hieh  you  and  your  fi lends  have  p:irticii  ntcd  in  for  a  great  length  of  time,  which 
you  yourself  and  Mr.  Craig  huvo  olTeied  to  renew,  aiid  the  principal  ol<jection  to 
which,  therefore,  seems  to  be,  that  they  are  to  bo  enjoyed  by  others." 

Extract  from  n  Circular  of  D.  U.  Craig,  dated  New  York,  May  10th,  1839 : 

"I  do  not  think  it  at  all  nrotssary  to  nii»ke  aoy  public  reply  to  the  scandalous 
falsehoods  of  Johnson  tk  Zidir'skie,  and  of  their  half  doten  beggarly  newspaper 
backers,  who  have  been  excluiled  from  our  news  arrangements  because  of  their 
inability  to  p:iy  their  weekly  telegr.iph  bills;  but  I  comply  with  your  request  for 
a  brief  ptutcment  of  our  present  troubles  with  the  Nv-.a  Scotia  telegraph  man- 
ogers. 

"The  line  to  Halifax  was  built  some  ten  years  ng<i,  for  the  special  acconnno  la- 
tion  of  this  Associated  I'ress  of  this  city,  as  is  evidenced  by  the  fact,  that,  before  the 
contractors  would  j)roceed  to  bulM  flio  line,  tliey  exacted  from  the  As.-ociatiou 
here  a  pledge  that  they  would  usu  the  line  f->r  at  Ica^t  three  thousand  words  on 
the  arrivid  of  every  new  regular  steamer  ni  Halifux.  Tiie  rates  agreed  upon  for 
us  to  pay  to  the  Nova  Scotia  lire  from  Halifa.v  to  Saekville  (about  one  hundred 
and  thirty  miles),  were  about  double  the  rut..-;  eM:\r;:ei  to  the  public,  their  propor- 
tion of  thewhide  tolls  ntuouutirig  to  rcventy-tivc  doll:irs  for  e.ieh  disp..tcli.  Tlui<, 
the  only  peculi:irity  of  our  ar.-aM^enieiit  witii  the  Nova  .So^tia  liiio  wa-«,  we  paid 
them  about  double* the  rates  wliich  they  charged  to  the  public,  and  we  had  a  ro/fit 
to  vccupij  the  virci  eontlaH'>\i*ly  kuom  tue  M^ULNr  onr  report  rt^'.chcd  the  t>'e;nii/>h 
office 'until  il  viin  all  icnt  through  to  this  rif\:  Ijut,  if  othor  parties  got  their  re- 
ports into  the  office  in  season  t<t  GET  TiiKxt  otK  before  ours  arrive  1,  the  liii»>  was 
at  liberty  to  send  them;  and  this  actually  happened  on  two  occasions  during  the 
past  too  years," 


Cralit'iitste- 
meiit  shout 

tlie  I'hilielvl- 
|>lila  Prerl, 


Cr»lR'*9l.it*. 

HK'Ilt  of  till) 

liurpnrt  oT 
Ills   Cun'rnct 
wlili      llie 
No»afc"tla 
Couiii.iny. 


M 


annum  upon  their  original  inve^tuiont.    Let  us  nssunio  it  to  bo 
80— what  inforoiico  c;im  \vc  properly  draw  iVotn  that  fact  ? 


flubttrvUncy 
of  111*  old 
Aioerlean 

Conpnoy  to 
hit.  Craig. 


It  will  thui  b«  «oen  tlint,  un>lor  the  contract  between  tliu  N'ova  Sootln  Cuiiipany 
«dJ  the  agent  nftlie  A-i4ociatetl  Ptcf,  th«  Itttor  ctijuvoil  n  coinpltta  prcforoncv — 
that  it  to  tny,  he  "hit<l  a  ri|;ht  to  occupy  t^«  wire*  coiitinuuutly  from  tlie  mo- 
mtnt"  h«  put  Li«  report  in  the  otllce  of  the  Tclo;;rii|ili  Cuinpmy  at  Iliilir.ti.  If  tli« 
•gent  uf  aaothc  Vrea  Aiiocinlixii  thoiilj  ^ct  t"  tht^  otUco  &rtt,  tliu  Cuiupnny 
WuulJ  begin  to  icn<l  hi«  me.>^nge,  but  woulJ  lenvn  ofT  the  inutuent  thnt  Mr.  Craig 
■houhl  lend  iu  his  tne&iia^o.  Thi«,  of  ruuric,  etTcctually  preventeJ  any  ni  range* 
mcDti  being  mvlo  by  riv.il  reporters  or  agouti  to  prepare  and  tran^^rail  acn-i  re- 
ports from  Hulirux.  It  ilitTcrcd  only  in  form  from  a  cor  ^  ct  giring  the  ixchuivo 
uie  uf  the  wirci  fi>r  A  given  number  of  hours  after  the  .  rlt'al  of  the  steitmor  ia 
the  port  of  Ilalifnx. 

Itia  true  that  if  o'.her  partie«,  gettinj  tlicir  reportii  in  tlie  ofllce  fir«t,  could  "  get 
them  off"  before  the  arrival  of  <  aig's  message,  the  Company  would  be  K'guUy 
bound  to  lend  thctn.  Ouly  a  rery  short  me.'iia;,!}  '"^uld  thus  be  gut  off,  i.  t.  fin- 
ished, before  the  recaipt  of  Craig's  messn';).'.  Tliat  moMsage  tool;  five  or  six  hours 
to  transmit.  But  ^ve  have  «oen  thr'  Cruii;  d"cl;ired  tliat  ho  would  not  pay  any- 
thing if  any  inusiage  sboul  1  reach  tho  UnitcJ  cftiUes  be  j,v  his. 

It  is  clear  that  Cr.ii^''s  contract  was  for  a  prefercnc;  i  j '.  that  it  was  justifitd  on 
account  of  the  superior  importance  of  public  intellig  m.-e. 

The  positionj  osjuni«J  by  the  old  Amp  mj  Company  wer  'nconsistent  and 
ridiculous.  Its  Prc^Jent  wa?«in:iJe  tocun'cnd  tt  ono  and  the  &amo  lime  for  tlin 
two  ontii^ouistic  propositions — that  the  firit  come  should  bo  fir.it  served,  and  that 
I'ress  dinpatchei  ftliould  have  priority-.  The  rule,  "first  como  first  bcrvt-il,'"  {,'ot 
into  favor  with  Mr.  Hewitt  when  he  was  assured  that  Craig  could  giit  along  very 
well  if  he  could  gut  rid  of  the  contract  by  which  Johnson  and  Zabri.skio's  messages 
(or  the  Press  had  priority  ju<t  os  hi<,  Craig'».  used  to  have.  It  was  supposed  that 
the  rules  of  the  New  York  Associated  I're.^s,  forbidding  its  curitomcrs  to  receive 
f  ny  foreign  news  by  Tclegrujih,  except  throUo'h  its  a|,'ent,  could  bo  preserved,  nnd 
the  monopoly  of  the  New  York  Association  kept  intact  if  Johnson  A,  Zabriskio 
could  be  thwarted.  /'  ir-it  ftared  that  the  moiio/july  uilyht  be  deitroi/fd  by  the 
mrj/  meiut  by  whkh  it  cij  created.  In  this  emergency,  the  cry,  "  first  come 
first  served"  was  set  up,  aiid  the  American  Comp.vny  was' instigated  to  demand  of 
the  Xovu  Scotia  Company  Hu  -. Jmission  of  an  agent  of  the  former  into  the  office 
at  Ualifux  to  8cc  th't  no  prcw'-rence  was  given  to  IVcss  or  other  dispatches,  but 
that  thu  rule  first  come  first  served,  was  fully  abiJed  by.  This  demand  was  of 
course  rejected  with  sc  rn. 

The  American  Co'ipany,  in  a  letter  dated  May  25th,  1850,  to  tho  rreeidcnt  of 
tho  Nova  Scoti..  Company,  saj:  "  We  merely  insist  that  a  preference  over  our 
lines  shall  not  be  given  without  our  consent,  nur  to  any  parties  who  arc  not  by 
law  authorized  to  have  such  preference."  Thus  ossuming  that  a  preference  given 
by  tho  Nova  Scotia  Comp.iny  was  a  matter  over  wliich  the  American  Company 
had  control.  To  this  the  Nova  Scotia  Company  shortly  replied,  "  \Vc  have  given 
no  preference  over  your  line<.     We  only  claim  theuianngument  of  our  own." 

No  proposition,  no  reasoning,  could  be  too  audacious  or  too  absurd  for  the  co- 
laborers  of  Craig  to  put  forth  in  the  name  of  the  Americaq  Company.    And  the 


65 


Tlio  stock  of  tho  Magnetic  Company  rcprosonled   its  lines 
from  New  York  to  Washington,  ami  its  rights  under  certain 


I   1 


declaration  contained  in  Mr.  Ili.h^er's  UUar  of  April  8th,  18.-.t>,  that  if  the  Xora 
Scotia  Compnnjr  wouM  not  give  him  citl  er  the  same  contract  for  n  prpf«rence 
wliich  the  Associated  Tre's  of  New  York  formerly  had,  or  the  other  contract 
mentioned  in  his  letter,  no  new*  whatever  would  p.r**  over  tlie  wiroi  of  the  Nova 
Scotia  Company  to  the  American  Press,  was  acted  up  to  by  the  American  Com- 
panj-. 

Mr.  Peter  Cooper  wa^  male  to  believe  that  it  was  very  wronj  for  the  Xova 
Scotia  Company  to  make  any  contract  with  Johuion  i  Zabriskie,  whereby  they  had 
priority. 

Mr.  Pftter  Cooper  was  President  of  the  American  Company  when  the  contro- 
Tersy  arose.  Fie  was  soon  after  succeeded  by  his  son-in-law,  Mr.  Hewitt.  Both 
of  those  gentlemen  appear  to  have  been  profoundly  ij^norant  of  the  fact  estab 
lished  by  the  documents  which  I  have  set  out,  that  Craig's  contract  wiili  tho 
Nova  Scotia  Company  gave  hitn  a  priority,  an  1  that  by  means  of  this  privilege 
and  the  rules  of  the  Associated  Press  of  New  York,  he  had  succeeded  in  gag;3'ing 
the  people  of  the  United  States,  and  forcing  them  to  accept  his  foreign  market 
report,  and  his  version  of  the  foreign  news,  without  addition,  contradiction,  or 
explanation. 

Mr.  Peter  Cooper  held  $30,0i"»0  of  tho  Stock  of  the  old  American  Company,  whoso 
•tock  was  $200,000.  That  Company  took  a  lease  of  the  Maine  and  New  Brunswick 
lines,  and  then  purchased  tho  claim  of  Craig  and  his  two  partners  to  the  Telegraph 
line  from  New  York  to  Boston.  Craig  took  slock  of  the  Company  for  his  interest 
in  the  old  line.  The  Comp.iny  of  which  Peter  Cooper  w.n8  Pre.^idoiit  was  in  reality 
influenced  by  Craig,  as  much  so  as  the  old  line  was  before  he  assigned  it  to  the 
American  Company. 

The  stock  of  the  old  Anurioan  Conipciiy  taken  by  Cralij  in  the  name  of  Mr. 
Hyde,  was  paid  for  out  of  the  proceeds  of  the  •ale  of  Craig's  one-third  interest  in 
the  old  line  from  New  York  to  Bo-^ton,  (for  which  he  paid  nothing).  lie  obtained 
about  100  shares  of  $100  eacii  in  that  way,  which  he  put  in  the  name  of  his  wifo. 

la  the  course  of  the  di.scu<«ion  rcsjiecting  the  stoppage  of  the  mojsnges  of 
Johnson  <{:  2abriski  it  was  statcil,  amongst  other  things,  that  Craig  was  the  owner 
of  a  considerable  amount  of  stock  of  that  Company,  and  that  he  exercised  an 
undue  inflneno.e  over,  its  Directors.  Mr.  Hewitt,  in  a  reply  published  in  iiis  own 
name  in  the  i\'«u?  I'orJt  AVc/ii/i^ /'o^^  dated  July  7th,  1859,  after  first  assorting 
that  the  American  Company  had  given  no  preference  to  the  agent  of  Ihe  Associated 
Press,  and  then  defending  tiic  preference  given  to  him  on  the  ground  tlint  interfer- 
ence was  necessary  to  prevent  the  "  disgraceful  and  disastrous  result"  of  the  prefer- 
ence given  by  the  Nova  Scotia  Company  to  Johnson  <!;  Zahriskie,  gooson  tosa}',  "I 
have  examined  the  Stock  Ledger  of  the  Comi'auy,  and  find  that  the  a;;int  of  the 
Associated  Press  is  not,  and  never  has  been,  a  Sto'.'kholder  in  tliis  Ci'mpany."  That 
•tatement  is  literally  true,  yet  some  shares  then  stood  in  the  name  of  Helena  Craig, 
the  wife  of  D.  II.  Crai^. 

Mr.  Hewitt  took  tlieofTicc  of  President  of  the  old  American  Company  in  1819, 

9 


The  posltldi) 
and  pro!i. 
pecu  of  till 4 
Com  pany— 
the  value  of 
lu  property, 
coaoectioni, 
aud  privl- 


60 


Itlon 
ro»- 
tliU 
oy— 
lie  of 
)erty, 
lions, 
rlfl- 


By  wh«t 

authority  the 
m«ft*gci 

wcredopi'eJ 
al  Backvillt. 


leases.  "What  profits  would  it  have  iiiado  without  its  lease  of 
the  lino  from  "Washington  to  New  Orleans '?  Supposing  the  ]\rag- 

nierely  to  relieve  his  fiitlier-in-law  from  the  perfonnniice  of  ita  Juties.  Mr.  Hewitt 
did  not  like  tliu  investiiw^nt  of  liis  father-iu-law  *iii TcU'ginpb  stock — knew  nothing 
about  tlie  Tilryraji!!  butines* — cared  nothing  about  it — and  took  the  earliest  opjior- 
tuoity  of  Belling  out  the  stook  hoM  by  himself  nn<l  hi*  relative?,  as  already  stated 
above.  He  rushed  nt  once  into  the  arms  of  Craig,  and  did  exactly  whatCrtiig 
wanted  to  be  done.  Tliii  was,  oj  I  believe,  to  gratify  Mr.  WiUon  G.Hunt,  and  not 
from  any  improper  rootive.  Although  the  lines  of  the  American  Company  were 
worked  at  thit  tin:e  in  conjunction  with  the  hue*  of  the  New  York  and  Washinj;- 
toD  Company,  and  all  were  under  the  control  of  trustees  appointed  by  the  two 
Companies,  the  three  trustees  who  represented  the  New  York  and  Wa^hingtoo 
Company  (I  was  one  of  them)  were  never  consulted  about  the  stoppage  of  the 
messages  at  SackviUe.  The  reason  given  by  Mr.  Hewitt  was,  that  he  knew  I 
would  strongly  oppose  that  course  of  procccdii;g.  I  was  consulted  about  all 
other  tnntUra  affecting  the  joint  interests.  As  there  was  no  cotiipleto  union  of  the 
lin^s — we  were  waiting  for  the  Magnetic  Company  to  join  us,  and  iu  the  meantime 
were  acting  under  a  contract  for  consolidation  to  be  pcrftrttd  in  Itgal  form  there- 
after— I  bud  no  legal  right  to  interfere,  and  Mr.  He^Yitt  did  just  as  he  pleased  in 
the  matter,  acting  on  behalf  of  the  ohl  American  Company.  The  resolution  direct- 
ing the  messages  of  Johnson  tS:  Zabri^kie  to  be  stopped  at  Kfuckville,  was  adopted 
May  13th,  1553,  (although  no  record  of  it  can  be  found,)  by  the  bnre  quorum  of  the 
Directors  of  the  old  American  Company  iu  the  absence  of  ilr.  Allen.  1  hat  gen- 
tleman, as  I  am  informed,  knew  nothing  about  the  resolution  in  question  until 
■ome  time  after  it  had  been  adopted  and  enforcfd.  Ho  was  not  consulted  at  all 
about  it. 


ll 


CralK't 
poiltien  as 
avent  of  tlie 
N.  Y.  Astucl- 
at«(I  i'reu. 


It  will  be  observed  th.it  Craig,  in  all  his  conduct  and  CDriespondenoe,  assumes  a 
masterful  air ;  he  docs  not  talk  and  act  like  a  mere  Agent  of  the  Associated  Pres*, 
but  as  a  dictator.  He  contrived  to  obtain  controlling  interests  in  an  essential  part 
of  the  lines  of  telegraphic  communication  with  the  East,  postcssed  liiineelf  of  tha 
moat  important  lines  over  which  marine  intelligence  is  tranjuiitteil — coupled  them 
with  reoding-rooms  resorted  to  by  shippers  ntid  nptnts  «jf  mi'.rino  insurance  com- 
pauies;  and  in  various  other  ways  made  himself  indis[;cnsable  to  the  New  York 
Associated  Press.  He  Las,  in  fact,  built  up  that  Association,  and  it  is  cotnpletely 
under  his  control.  His  pcsition  is  one  of  coniiiinnding  importance.  As  the  foreign 
news  is  received  first  by  him  in  cypher,  to  the  exclusion  of  any  b'>dy  else,  he 
coubl,  with  adroit  colleagues,  make  vast  s'lms  of  money  in  cpeculations.  I  leave 
the  reader  to  judge,  from  the  ctyle  of  hi*  correspondence,  wlicther  he  is  the  right 
fort  of  a  man  to  be  entrusted  wiili  the  pusn*  .-ion  of  the  forci;rn  news  in  advance  of 
every  other  man  in  this  country.  No  one  mm  could  have  that  advantage  if  the 
•yBtcrn  cstablidied  by  tie  rules  of  the  New  York  Associatid  Pre.-;  were  al>ro- 
eatcd.  Under  that  system  t!i(  re  can  be  but  one  telegraphic  iiu-ssage  for  the  Prcis 
containing  the  foreign  news.  And  yet  Mr.  liaymond  tells  us  tlial  that  very  sys- 
tem was  got  up  to  protect  the  public,  and  that  it  answers  the  purpose.  On  tlio 
joptrary,  it  appears  t<j  me  that  \\,  U  ou\j  by  competition  that  the  publio  can  lo 


1 


I 


>'v 


! 


«7 


netic  Company  had  not  owned  such  lease,  could  it  have  made 
any  profits  at  all  without  a  connection  with  that  lino  ?   If  it  had 

protected  against  fraudulent  speculators.  If  two  or  more  messoges  are  received 
for  different  news  assncitttions,  it  ^'ill  be  impossible  for  anyone  man  to  lay  his 
plans  fur  defrauding  the  unwary. 

I  know  it  will  be  said  tliat  we  have  no  right  to  rail  against  monopolies  because 
we  have  ourselves  a  monopoly.  Now,  with  respect  to  our  monopoly,  which  is 
founded  upon  the  Patent  laws,  it  in  a  fact  worthy  of  notice,  that  the  public  is 
better  served  now  that  the  various  lines  are  worked  in  connection  with  each  other, 
than  it  was  when  there  were  various  companies  competing  with  each  otiier.  Thus 
between  New  York  and  New  Orleans  a  message  is  now  sent  by  whichever  line 
may  happen  to  be  in  working  order,  whereas  formerly  the  Company  receiving;  tlie 
message  in  the  fiii>t  inr.tance  T«'ould  often  decline  to  send  it  by  the  rival  line,  al- 
though its  own  line  might  bo  temporarily  disabled.  Our  Company  will  endeuvor 
to  servo  the  public  well  and  faithfully,  and  I  have  no  doubt  that  we  shall  be  able, 
at  no  distant  period,  to  reduce  the  charges  for  private  messages  and  special  re- 
ports for  the  Press  on  some  routes,  and  yet  make  a  reasonable  profit  for  the  stock, 
holders. 


Any  one  who  has  dured  to  oppose  Craig  has  always  been  attacked  b}*  him  wiih 
the  most  reckless  forocity. 

Thus  the  Directors  of  the  Nova  >'c.>tia  Telegraph  Company  "stoop  to  trickery,"  ^'^^x'*  fe- 
»et  a  "  baso  example,"  arc  "  lost  Vt  every  sense  of  decency,"  and  resort  to  tlie  tack»  upon 
"  Pfeter  Funk  game.  P„j  ^^^, 

The  lion.  Francis  O.  J.  Smitli,  mIio  was  the  owner  of  the  major  part  of  the 
stock  of  the  New  York  and  New  England  Union  Telegrapli  Company,  ond  wlio 
opposed  the  monopoly  of  the  New  York  Associated  Press,  is  denounced  by  Craig 
a«  "  that  vile  scoundrel  trickster  Fog  Smith,"  "  the  would-be  swindler." 

Ihe  proprietors  of  all  the  leading  Philadelphia  oewspnpers  who  supported 
Johnson  &  Zabriskie  in  their  efforts  to  supply  foreign  news,  Craig,  in  his  circular 
of  May  lOtli,  1S59,  calls  "their  half  dozen  beggarly  newspaper  backers  who  have 
been  excluded  from  our  news  a:ratigo:nents  because  of  their  inability  to  pay  t/itir 
iceekly  tdegraph  bills." 

Mr.  Johnson,  in  the  same  circular,  is  spoken  of  as  a  man  who  fur  many  years 
has  been  engaged  iu  eiitrupping  "'vtrdant  fool-t"  to  engage  in  the  reporting  busi- 
ness— that  in  this  way  he  occ  .ionally  seizures  "  a  ucal  tile,  a  glossy  coat,  nnd  fhin- 
ing  boots;"  that  after  a  blmrt  time  "there  happens  a  serious  cuUapse,  nnd  Mr. 
Johnson  retires  to  the  sliady  side  of  the  Philadelphia  small  beer-shops  until  he 
can  find  some  other  youtli  who  has  more  money  than  brains." 

This  was  one  of  Mr.  Craig's  contrivances  to  destroy  the  credit  of  th(se  who 
were  opposed  to  him  in  the  reporting  businecs. 

In  his  pamphlet,  dated  .May  Ist,  ISoO,  with  a  postsLript  dated  June  12th,  he 
attacks  the  report  *f  the  Special  Committee  appointed  to  examine  ond  report 
upon  the  alterations  made  ia  iho  tariff  for  the  Pi  ess.     Those  gentlemen,  the  Prc- 


i'f 


6S 


t  fe- 
at- 

npiin 
op* 

ni. 


been  without  tliat  connection,  and  without  a  connection  with 
the  East  or  West,  could  it  have  paid  hcilf  its  expenses  f  I 
suppose  not. 

•ident,  Mr.  Barnuin,  Mr.  RumcU,  Mr.  Allien,  IIcmi.  Ainoa  KenJiU,  and  Mr.  W.  M. 
Swain,  are  accused  b}'  Crai^  of 

"  Deception  and  trickerj." 

"Disgraceful  partiality  and  injustice." 

"  Baseness." 

He  8aj8  "  tbey  miko  deliberately  false  aiul  base  representations." 

That  tbey  "  present  uothinj;  but  the  tissue  uf  the  most  barefaced  misrepresenta- 
tions." 

That  "a  more  unprincipled  act  of  men  never  existed." 

In  his  second  pamphlet,  dated  July  7th,  ISCD,  entitled  "  A  reply  to  the  faht- 
hoods  of  the  Executive  Committee,"  he  charges  the  committee  with  having  made 
"statements  as  utterly  and  ridiculously  false  as  ever  were  concocted." 

"  Indeed,  from  the  very  commencement  of  thiii  controversy,  its  authors  appear 
to  have  been  lost  to  every  sense  of  honor,  truth,  and  duty." 

That  the  pamphlet  of  the  Executive  Committee  contains  "double  the  alleged 
number  (36)  of  palpaMe  untrutlis." 

That  it  contains  "  Munscliausoiiisms,"  "base  and  scoundrilly  imputations,"  "a 
barefaced,  impudent  faUeliood."  Thot  the  Committee  are  "mendacious."  That 
one  of  them,  Mr.  AlJen,  has  been  recently  purchased  "for  five  thousand  eight 
hundred  dollars  or  ihereubouts,"  and  that  the  purchasers  ijave  made  a  blunder  in 
purchasing  "a  n;an  whu  ^iU  deliberately  swindle  his  friends." 

He  oays,  "  I  am  only  eorry  that  my  power  is  not  os  omnipotent  as  the  Commit- 
tee; and  Fog  Smith  assert,  if  it  were  I  would  summarily  string  up  by  the  ears, 
and  suspend  from  the  Telegrapli  building  in  SVull  street,  this  whole  brood  of 
hypocrites." 

"True  to  the  instincts  of  knnvcs  these  Executive  Committee  men  doubtless  find 
it  hard  to  realize  how  any  man  can  fail  to  be  a  rogue  who  has  half  a  chance." 


AppIIcitioii 

mil  lie     for 

CralK's     dis- 

niUjal. 


An  attack  rvas  made  by  Cr.iig,  some  years  ago,  upon  some  of  the  Directors  of 
the  New  York  and  Wa-hington  rriutiii;;  Telegraph  Company,  and  Uon.  F.  0.  J. 
Smith  and  Mr.  Henry  O'llieliy. 

One  of  the  directors  of  the  last  named  c<impany,  Mr.  F.  M.  Edson,  complained  to 
the  Committee  of  tlic  >'ew  York  Associated  I'rcis,  that  their  ngtnt  liad,  in 
printed  letters,  dated  "  0:1ice  of  the  A'swiatod  Press,  New  York,"  called  him,  Mr. 
Edson,  and  his  colloa;,'u.  s,  '•liar,,"  "rogues,"  "cheats,"  "bullies,"  "humbugs," 
"  loathsome  reptiles,"  ttc. 

Mr.  EdsoM,  in  liis  letter  to  the  ostf'ii^ible  employers  of  Mr.  Craig  (but  who  acted 
as  if  they  were  his  subordinates),  "ays: 

"  I  liavc  a  riglit  to  imjuire  whether  it  is  )'.ot  pos^-ible  for  the  Associated  Press  to 
have  an  ngciil  who  l.as  U,o  ni  iiin'r-",  boaririjj  an  IciMiJiirt  of  a  <;<?ntlcmim — one  wiio 
■will  not,  upuii  anysligla  iai-l  fiivolon.-;  prit^xt  or  occasion,  attack  tlio^u  with  whom 
ho  may  cuiu'  in  contact  in  tlio  pio-i'/i.ution  of  his  ilutie*,  and  ovtrwliclni  them  with 
iilime  nnd  fiUh  ?  Are  o.vntis  of  t«l..;,'rapli  liiius  to  be  trampled  upon  and  insulted 
by  the  servant  of  tli'ir  principal  customer  f  I»  liiat  to  be  the  pricoof  the  patronage 
of  the  Associated  Prc^s  \  Do«.j  that  Associnliou  roi^uire  for  its  object  and  pur]ioses, 


^i': 


•N 


J 

1 


!i 


69 

It  would  then  be  very  erroneous  to  infer  tliat  if  a  line  were 
put  up  between  Kew  Yorlc  and  Washington  it  would  pay  a 

an  ignorant,  vulgar,  and  fniil-moutliod  repn^sentntivc— cne  who  revels  in  slnnrlen 
and  libels?  I  caiii:ot  believe  that  such  a  character  is  indispensable  to  the  Associa- 
tion ;  if  it  be,  the  Association  itself  is  a  nuisance  which  ought  to  be  abated  imme- 
diately." 

•  ••••••«• 

"As  to  the  atfacks  on  Mr.  O'Rielly  and  iir.  Smith.  Mr.  Morris  and  Mr.  Russell, 
under  covtr  of  the  la<t  letter  to  me,  they  rich'y  entitle  the  writer  to  a  residence  in 
the  Penitentiary,  if  he  he  morally  rcsj/i-osibV  for  his  villainous  actions,  which  I 
am  sometimes  inclined  to  donbt,  as  no  r  leqriate  motive  can  be  assigned  for  them. 
But  if  be  be  not  so  responsible,  still  he  i*  a  violent  and  vicious  creature,  with  suffi- 
cient cunning  for  mischief,  and  he  is  a  nuisance  to  those  who  are  compelltd  through 
hit  being  your  Agent  to  have  business  with  him." 

The  Executive  Committee  of  the  Associ.ited  Press  did  not  remove  their  Agent — 
perhaps  they  could  not.  I  have  no  idea  that  he  will  be  removed  on  account  of 
his  recent  abui>ive  pamphlets.  The  system  that  he  has  built  up  will  sustain  liim 
as  long  as  it  lasts.  But  fortunately  the  system  itself  is  undermined,  and  with  its 
destruction  Craig  will  disappear  from  the  scene. 

The  consolidation  of  the  telegraph  lines  along  the  seaboard  has  broken  the 
power  of  this  man.  He  can  no  longer  play  off  one  company  ag-iinst  another,  and 
thus  subordinate  therr:  r.ll.  Tlie  new  company  proceeded  at  once  to  obtain  a  lease  thr"con«oU- 
of  all  the  telegraph  lines  in  Nova  Scotia,  in  order  the  better  to  fulfil  the  coveni.nt  ''^"""^"aph' 
which  it  had  entered  into  to  use  all  legitimate  means  to  prevent  the  continuance  of 
the  monopoly  of  the  foreign  news.  It  will  soon  be  made  manifest  to  the  press 
generally  that  they  need  not  submit  any  longer  to  the  dictation  of  ^Fr.  Craig,  and 
I  have  no  doubt  that  the  principal  part  of  even  the  press  of  New  York,  will  prefer 
the  working  of  the  new  system,  which  will  secure  an  open  market  for  the  news, 
and  a  choice  of  arrangements  for  the  collection  and  supply  of  foreign  dispatches. 


Although  Mr.  Cvnis  W.  Field  has  but  a  small  interest  in  the  American  Tele- 
graph  Company,  he  has  large  interests  in  the  Newfoundland  Telegraph  Company, 
and  in  the  Atlantic  Cable  Company,  and  it  is  supposed  by  many  persons  that  his 
opinions  on  the  questions  in  controversy  between  this  rompany  and  the  New  York 
Associated  Pre-.-,  are  entitled  to  ^  rcat  respect  on  account  of  the  reputation 
acquired  by  him  through  his  cotiiiccfion  with  the  Newfoundland  line,  and  the 
Atlantic  Cable.  It  may  bo  jiropcr,  therefore,  to  see  what  claims  he  has  to  respect 
and  distinction  on  account  of  those  enterprise^. 

The  Newfoundland  Tele^'raph  Line  was  iiot  projected  by  ilr.  Field — he  em- 
barked in  the  enterprise  after  a  charter  had  been  obtained  by  Mr.  Gi-borne,  Mr. 
Tibbetts,  and  others,  from  the  Legi^latuI e  of  Nfv,fourid!:uid,  and  after  llioy  had 
expended  a  good  deal  of  money  npnn  the  nccc-.uy  survey*,  an  1  in  the  construc- 
tion of  part  of  the  line. 

Mr.  C.  W.  Field,  ilr.  Peter  Cooper,  Mr.  Taylor,  Mr.  Roberts,  and  a  few  other 
gentlemen,  in  New  York,  purchased  the  Intore-ts  of  Messrs.  Gliborue  and  Tibbetts, 


EffccU    o  r 


liaei. 


Tlie    Ncw- 
foundliktiJ 
TeloRiaph 
t'onii):iny— 
Ui     oriRinal 
objects 
How  Mr.  Cy- 
riu  W.   KiilJ 
t'cciiiic  con- 
ntcliffl    with 
th«    Atl:kntic 
Ciitilii     Com-, 
patiy. 


70 


largo  profit  upon  its  cost.  It  would  not  pay  any  profit.  It 
would  not  pay  expenses,  nor  half  of  them,  without  business 
connections  with  tho  Soutli,  witli  tho  East,  or  with  the  West. 

and  obtained  onother  cbnrter  upon  better  tcrnu  for  tlie  ompariy  than  the  fi)rmer 
one. 

The  goTerament  of  Newfoundland  was  pleased  with  the  project,  especially  na 
the  interior  of  llie  country  was  to  be  opened  up  through  the  constructiun  of  a  tele- 
graph line,  and  the  inoideutal  unkinj  of  a  road,  u:id  the  government  undurtuuk  to 
guarantee  the  payment  of  the  intoredt  ou  bonds  of  th«*  company  to  the  amount  of 
$250,000,  and  also  to  grant  the  company  a  considerable  quantity  of  land. 

The  company  merely  intended  to  construct  aline  from  Cape  Race  and  St.  Johii's, 
across  the  Island  of  Newfoundland,  to  Nova  Scotia,  and  there  to  connect  with  the 
lines  of  the  Nova  Scotia  Company. 

The  object  was  to  transmit  tho  news  brought  by  the  European  steamers  to  Cape 
Race  and  St.  Johns,  it  being  _8upposod_by  Mr.  Field,  and  his  associates  that  as  tiie 
•teamers  usually  run  near  Cape  Raoe,  they  would  almost  always  be  intercepted  by 
a  vessel  employed  for  that  purpose. 

Experience,  however,  has  shown  that  this  supposition  was  erroneous,  owing  to 
the  dense  fogs  prevailing  in  that  region,  and  the  enterprise  has  co.isef|uei>tly  proved 
a  failure  in  a  pecuniary  point  of  view. 

At  the  time  when  these  gentlemen  embarked  in  this  speculation,  there  was  aome 
talk  io  England  about  laying  a  telegraphic  cabin  betwei'n  England  and  America. 
A  prospectus  had  been  published  setting  forth  tlie  proje^it  of  the  Ocean  Telegrapli 
Company  to  lay  cables  from  Scotland  to  Iceland,  thence  to  Greenland,  thence  to 
Labrador.  Mr.  Brett,  of  London,  the  pioneer  of  submarine  telegraphs,  and  who 
bad  succes-sfully  laid  several  submarine  cables  preferred  the  direct  route  fror.'i 
Ireland  to  Newfoundland,  notwitlistanding  the  great  distance  between  those 
points. 

Mr.  Cyrus  W.  Field,  and  his  associates  in  tho  Newfoundland  enterprise,  did  not 
intend  to  invest  their  money  in  an  Atla  .iic  cable,  but  took  care  that  their  charter 
should  protect  them  in  case  other  parties  should  succeed  in  laying  such  cable.  To 
that  end  they  secured  the  exclusive  riglit  of  landir.g  cables  in  Newfoundland  niul' 
Labrador,  and  it  was  hoped  and  expected  by  them  that  any  Atlantic  Cable  Com- 
pany which  might  establi.^h  telegraphic  communication  betwcei;  l^uropc  and  New- 
foundland, or  Labrador,  would  have  to  connect  with  tlie  Newfoundland  Company's 
lines,  or  be  compelled  to  make  some  arrangements  with  the  company,  whereby 
they  would  be  saved  from  ruin,  notwitlistanding  the  .abandonment  of  their  land 
lines  across  Newfoundland,  in  the  event  of  the  success  of  tho  Atlantic  CaUo. 

Of  course,  it  was  readily  scea  that  the  success  of  a  cable  of  great  length  acros.s 
tho  ocean  would  lead  to  the  establishment  of  telegraphic  communication  by  short 
Bubmarine  cables  between  Newfoundland  and  the  Continent  of  America,  thus  rend- 
ering the  long  landdines  from  Capo  Rice  to  St.  John's  N.  F.,  thence  to  Ca[)e 
R.'iy  the  entire  length  of  tho  Island,  and'  thence  to  Tort  Hood,  in  Cape  I'.ieton, 
entirely  useless.  And  also  that  a  lino  by  Greenland  and  Labrador  would  super- 
Bcdo  the  line  across  Newfoundland. 

Mr.  C.  W.  Field  and  his  associates,  when  they  took  up  this  Newfoundland  Tele- 


l\ 


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h ' 


i! 


n 


If  wo  ncl  J  to  tlio  cost  of  construe  t'on  a  sum  for  the  value  of 
such  lusincss  conncctionSy  the  pate.'t  ri(/hf3,  and  riglits  and 


graph  proji'ct,  liaJ  so  little  f.iith  in  submarine  cables,  tbnt  instuaJ  of  stretchini;  a 
cable  acro.is  from  Cape  Race  to  St.  Peter's,  aiil  tlier.o  to  Sydney,  Cape  Breton, 
a  distance  of  about  300  miles  ^nly,  tlicy  proforreJ  constructing  a  line  riglit 
through  the  Island  of  Newfoundiiuid — throug'i  an  unknown  wilderness ;  and  lluit, 
although  they  had  to  cut  a  roadway,  conjtruei  britlgts,  Jrc,  involving  an  expi  no 
for  the  entire  line  to  the  point  of  com  •  .  tion  in  '»'ova  Scotia,  amounting  to  between 
■ereu  and  eight  hundred  thousand  dollars.  Tht  entire  distance  traTer'>d  is  about 
700  Miles,  including  a  cable  sixty  miles  long.  This  roundabr.  t  course  was  takew 
to  avoid  having  to  lay  longer  cables — the  proJAClor*  being  iehi  al  the  O'j,:,  and  un- 
willing to  Tcrturo  upon  the  experiment  of  l.ijing  c,  lies  300  n  .les  long,  li  will 
not  do  f)r  the;>)  to  say  that  they  invented  their  money  in  the  belief  that  a  cable 
would  be  lu  •!  ncfiily  2,000  mllc;i  long. 

To  kctp  up  ;!.c  land  linci  of  the  N"-. wfoniidland  Company  in  woil-ng  order,  u 
great  expend  aire  ii  required  nnd  owiir;  to  the  nature  of  the  cour'sy  .brough 
which  they  pass  no  relianCt  "tn  bo  plixcod  upon  tli'.'fii.  The  probability  is,  that 
they  will  soou  be  abnndone  i,  a  «u',.'r'rinc  cut. le  on  the  route  designated  above 
being  used  instf  ad. 

The  8f  sculation,  as  I  liave  f!t.:t'.»' i  b' fort",  failed,  as  it  was  generally  fuund  im- 
possible to  intercept  the  afeanie:*.  Mr.  Fiold  tiien  took  an  interest  in  the  English 
project  of  8li-.fehing  a  o.ible  from  Ireland  to  Newfoundland.  He  espectel  to  be 
able  to  dirpoao  of  a  considerable  amount  of  the  stock  of  the  Company  amoi  ,r<t  his 
his  own  coiinlrynicn,  and  also  to  obtuin  aid  from  Congress. 

1  he  first  nientionod  anticip.ition  was  not  realized.  Mr.  Peter  Cooper  and  Mr. 
Ai'I  'iitook  only  one  shnre  each,  and  about  h;ilf  a  df>zen  other  Americans  followed 
their  cvampln,  each  taking  a  single  share,  with  the  exception  of  one  g€ntloi;ian 
who  took  two.  The  shares  were  £1000  each.  Sir.  Field  had  some  shares  allotted 
to  him  as  ^le  of  the  promoters.  Tiie  burthen  was  bo:  no  by  the  people  on  tic 
other  side  oi"  the  Atlantic;  they  supplied  nearly  all  the  money,  and  manufactured 
the  cable.  It  was  there,  too,  that  the  experiments  were  tried  upon  underground 
lines,  the  wires  being  put  tngeth  r  for  the  purpose  of  ascertaining  whether  the 
turri'!!t  wotdd  pass  through  two  thousand  miles  of  ii.'snlated  wire  with  suflicieut 
tHpi  lity  and  certainty  for  telegraphic  purpose?. 

ilr.  Field  had  no  claims  whatever  either  to  scientific  knowledge,  mechanical 
skill,  or  pri;cti('id  ex[)ericnce. 

It  will  be  s  a-n  from  this  brief  recital  of  facts,  that  Mr.  Field  was  not  entitled  to 
the  honors  heaped  upon  him.  His  ciiiKiecti"n  with  the  Telegraph  bu<ine?s  origin- 
ated not  with  the  grand  project  of  comiectiiig  Europo  with  America  oy  a  Tele- 
graph cable,  but  with  a  rash  and  ill-adviiud  project  to  build  a  Tcle^jruph  line 
aeross  Newfouiidlan  1  for  the  pii:i>n-e  of  gettinj  the  ICaropean  news  ofl'Cape  Hace, 
and  sendittg  the  American  news  to  Ktirope  froi;\  tl»at  point.  Hence  the  Company 
was  calli'i!  the  New  York,  Newfoundland,  an  1  London  Telegraph  t'on:p;ni_v. 

That  such  was  the  object,  and  that  the  projectors  4iad  no  fiiith  in  l-ng  submarine 
cables,  will  be  manifest  to  anybody  who  will  loiik  at  the  map  ani  tra.'o  the  line 
from  Cup-;  W\r^  to  St,  Pett-'M,  NewfoundlatI  1,  thence  to  S^dnej-,  Capo  Drctoii, 


72 


privileges  of  every  descrijyfiony  wo  slmll  find  that  tlic  profits  aro 
not  excessive. 

Tlio  stocklioUlci-i  of  the  lino  from  "NVasliington  to  Xcw 
Orleans  get  only  six  j>er  cent.,  whilst  tlio  amount  invcsteil  in  the 
Nova  Scotia  lines  yields  only  four  per  cent.  AYe,  by  holding  a 
vast  net-work  of  lines,  arc  able  to  make  twelve  per  ccit.,  and 
doubtle-s  shall  make  much  more  hereafter;  but  how  idle  it  is 
to  talk  of  the  cost  of  a  small  section  or  two  of  our  lines,  and 
then  calculate  the  profits  of  the  whole  concerii  as  being  made 
upon  the  capital  thus  rei)resented. 

Mr.  C.  W.  Field  says  that  the  line  from  Xew  York  to  Bo«ton 
made  large  profits  before  tho  consolidation.  Suppose  it  did  : 
That  docs  not  prove  that  a  line  between  those  cities  would  pay 
without  connections  with  Halifax,  and  Cape  Kace,  and  Mont- 
real, and  tho  South  and  tho  AYest.  Tho  error  of  Mr.  Field's 
reasoning  consists  in  disregarding  those  connections,  our  patent 
rights,  and  exclusive  rights  of  way.  Nobody  talks  of  building 
fresh  lines  to  Halifax,  to  Cape  Ilace,  to  Montreal,  to  New 
Orle.ins,  to  Chicago,  to  St.  Louis,  and  the  thousand  other  places 
to  which  this  Company  has  lines,  orwith  wliicU  it  has  exclusive 
connections. 

The  capital  stock  representing  the  property  of  the  old  Amer- 
ican Company  did  not  merely  rej)re3cnt  tho  lines  from  Boston 
to  New  York,  Boston  to  Springfield,  New  York  to  Philadel- 
phia, &c.  y  it  represented  valuable  leases  of  all  tiie  lines  in  the 
State  of  Maino  which  enjoy  exclusive  riglits  of  way  on  the  rail- 
roads in  that  State;  leases  of  all  tho  lines  in  the  Province  of 
New  Brunswick ;  exclusive  connection  with  tho  Newfoundland 
lines,  and  with  all  the  lines  of  the  North  American  Telegraph 


where  n  cable  luiglit  have  been  hiid,  thus  avoiding  the  enorniou-j  expense  incurred 
in  building  a  land  line — a  line  on  a  circuitous  route  tlirough  a  wilderness  and  liable 
to  frequent  derangements.  Tiiey  bad  to  lay  down  a  cable  sixty  miles  long  across 
th«  gulf  of  St.  Lawrence,  and  a  sliort  cable  across  the  gut  of  Canso,  instead  of  two 
cables  extending  about  300  miles. 

The  distance  from  Ireland  to  Xewfoundland  appears  to  be  too  great  for  a  tele- 
graph line,  and  the  probability  is  tliat  ^eicgrapliic  communication  with  Europe 
will  not  be  attempted  again  ty  that  route,  but  that  the  original  project  for  the 
northern  route  by  Scotland,  Iceland,  Greenland,  and  Labrador,  which  has  been  re- 
cently revived,  will  bo  caniod  into  practical  operation, 

New  York,  Au-ust  21at,  ISoo. 


I 


:^-i! 


78 


Confederation,  embracing  the  AVcst,  the  South,  and  Canada. 
How  falhiciou^,  then,  it  is,  to  speak  of  tlic  property  of  tho  old 
American  Comjiany,  for  -Aliich  it  was  allowetl  $420,000  of  tho 
stock  of  the  con-olidation,  as  consisting  merely  or  even  mainly 
of  tho  few  miles  of  lines  owned  by  that  Company. 

It  would  be  as  reasonable  to  speak  of  the  property  of  tho 
great  Express  Companies  as  c-n-isting  merely  of  their  horses, 
wagons,  and  office  furniture,  or — a  better  illustration — to  speak 
of  the  property  of  the  India  Tlubber  Companies  as  being  worth 
only  the  price  of  their  buildings  and  machinery.  AVo  can  make 
large  profits  because  we  have  got  tho  exclusive  connections 
with  tens  of  thousands  of  miles  of  lines,  and  as  tho  business  in- 
crease^, as  it  will  immensely,  from  various  causes,  our  profits 
will  go  on  increasinij  until  M-e  choose  to  crv  enousth  ! 

There  is  no  business  in  t!iis  country  more  effectually  secured 
against  competition  than  this  will  bo  after  we  shall  have  put 
down  the  monopoly  of  the  Xew  York  Associated  Press,  and 
that  we  can  do  to  a  certainty  without  any  difficulty  wiiatever. 
I  trust  that  stockholders  v/ill  not  bo  misled  by  tho  alarmists, 
and  induced  to  sell  their  stock.  I  have  known  tho  stock  of  a 
great  Telegraph  Comj)any  in  tlie  ^'est  (tho  Western  Union) 
sold  at  sixty  cents  on  the  dollar,  only  a  few  months  betbro 
dividends  were  declared  equal  to  cent,  per  cent,  on  the  entire 
capital  stock.  The  stock  was  then  increased  so  that  each  stock- 
holder got  five  shares  of  stock  for  one,  arid  this  stock  pays  good 
dividends.    It  has  been  estimated  bv  an  officer  of  that  Com- 

* 

pany,  fully  competent  to  give  a  souikI  opinion,  that  their  divi- 
dends will  go  on  increasing  from  time  to  time,  and  will  reach 
30  to  40  per  cent,  in  1S03. 

It  appeal's  to  be  absolutely  impossiblo  to  impede  the  pros- 
perity of  that  Company  ;  it  has  the  exclusive  right  of  way  on 
nearly  fifty  railroads,  and  it  is  bound  with  our  Company  and 
all  the  other  great  Companies  in  the  United  States  and  tho 
British  Provinces  in  a  confederation  for  mutual  defense  and 
co-operation. 

I  mention  tiieso  facts  in  order  that  tlie  stockholders  may  not 
be  led  by  idle  threats,  false  reasoning,  and  fallacious  statistics, 
to  follow  tho  example  of  the  stockholders  in  tiie  Western  Union 
10 


u 


Company,  who  sold  tliclr  stock  becauso  they  ftiiled  to  appreci- 
ate the  eflocts  of  the  consolidation  of  the  "Western  lines,  but 
made  their  calculations  upon  bases  similar  to  those  now  pre- 
sented by  the  parties  who  want  to  persuade  the  stockholders  of 
this  Company  that  their  stock  is  of  but  little  value. 

In  conclusion,  sir,  I  beg  leave  to  recommend  this  meeting  to 
leave  the  aftairs  of  tlie  Company  in  the  hands  of  its  represen- 
tatives the  Directors.  To  the  stockholders,  whether  owning 
many  or  few  shares,  I  would  say,  keep  them,  because  I  firmly 
believe  that  under  the  consolidation  they  will  become  very 
valuable. 


